Demon Crisis Book 2: Dark Tamer
by Count Morningstar
Summary: Ken sees someone who he thought was long dead. He thinks that it was only his imagination until he encounters a young woman from another world who claims to know this person. Full summary inside.
1. Prologue

**Summary:** While returning home, Ken encounters a ghost from his past. Initially he believes it to be nothing more than his imagination. But then Ken encounters a young woman who claims to know the person he thought he saw. Soon Ken and his fellow Digidestined end up working with this girl to find out the truth behind what really happened to the legendary Digimon Tamer who had been thought to have been dead for many years.

**Setting:** Takes place about one week after the events of Book 1: Lust.

**Author's Note:** So now we come to the second book in my epic multi-part sequel to Digimon: Home by the Sea. There are a few "guest stars" in this story, and by now you've probably figured out who they all are (heck, one of them is listed in the description).

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

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><p>BOOK II-DARK TAMER<p>

Prologue

Ken Ichijouji exited the bus and began walking back to the apartment building where he lived with his girlfriend, Yolei Inoue. It had been a long shift at his part-time job. One of Ken's fellow employees had called in to work sick, so he had to work twice as hard. As he walked, Ken glanced across the street and saw a young man, who was perhaps a little older than he was, standing on the other side looking at him. The young man in question had short brown hair and eyes, and was wearing a grey shirt, dark-blue jacket, and black jeans. Ken instantly thought he knew whom the stranger was.

"Ryo?" Ken called out to the young man.

Suddenly a large truck passed in between the two, and when Ken looked again the young man was gone. Naturally he looked around for a moment to try and figure out where the young man had gone, but very soon gave up and continued on home. Of course Ken could not forget about what he saw. Yet the more rational part of his mind kept telling him that had imagined what he had just seen. It was a very unlikely possibility that the person Ken had just seen was still alive.

When Ken entered the apartment he found the green caterpillar-like creature that was his Digimon Wormmon and the large brown bird with white head that was Yolei's Digimon Hawkmon, sitting on the couch watching T.V. A moment later Yolei had emerged from the kitchen and saw the troubled expression on Ken's face.

"What's wrong Ken?" Yolei asked with a tone of concern. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I think I just might have." Ken replied as he sat down on the couch next to Wormmon.

"What do you mean?" Yolei asked as she sat down next to Ken.

"…Years ago when I was little my family and I lived near a boy named Ryo Akiyama." Ken began after a long pause. "Ryo was a little older than I was. The first time we met we both saw Matt and Tai fight the Diaboromon army on the Internet. I guess that's when we became Digidestined, or at least when I did. Not too long after that I received a Digivice, but you already know that part of the story.

"What I didn't tell you about was what happened when I first went to the Digital World. When I first got there, I was in a forest. That's where I first met Wormmon. Not long after that I found out that Ryo was there too. We went on a journey together to battle a really evil Digimon called Millenniummon. I actually don't really remember much about the final battle. All I remember really was waking up to find Ryo and Wormmon tending to me."

"That's because the battle with Millenniummmon was when you were infected by the Dark Spore." Wormmon explained. "It came from Millenniummon when he exploded."

"…So, what happened to Ryo?" Yolei asked after another pause.

"A few days after I had gotten back to the human world Ryo dropped by to see how I was doing." Ken replied. "While he was there he asked to use my computer. The moment he turned it on he found some kind of quiz on there. It was for finding participants for something called the D-1 Tournament. Ryo was curious, so he took the quiz. As he took it, he told me that he thought the quiz was rigged, like it was made for him to answer. Ryo asked me if I knew anything about the quiz, but I told him I had no clue.

"When Ryo answered the last question he was suddenly sucked into the computer. I don't quite remember what happened after that. I was kinda out of it because I was still pretty sick from the Dark Spore. I remember speaking to Ryo over the computer a few times, but I don't know what about. The only thing I do remember for sure is that Ryo never came back from the Digital World. Not long after that my brother Sam died in that accident and… well… you know the rest of the story."

At that point Yolei gave Ken a hug. She already knew about most of Ken's tragic past, but she had no idea that he had lost such a good friend around the same time he had lost his brother.

"…So, why are you telling me about all this now?" Yolei asked after a moment.

"…Because on my way home I thought I saw Ryo standing across the street from me." Ken finally answered. "It looked like he was there one moment and then he was gone. I thought I was losing my mind there for a moment. For years now I've been sure that Ryo was dead for some reason, but now I just don't know."

"Whatever is going on, we'll figure it out." Yolei said reassuringly as she took Ken's hand. "We're meeting Izzy tomorrow. Maybe he could figure out what it is that you saw."

"Maybe…" Ken said sounding very unsure. "If Ryo really is alive though… than where has he been all these years? That's something I'd really like to know."

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> So by now you've probably all figured out that this second book is a small crossover with Tamers. I was originally going to write this as a separate story from the Demon Crisis stories, but when I was in the planing stages I decided to put it into the series. It actually wasn't until years after Tamers had ended when I learned that Ryo was originally from Adventure/Adventure 02. And when I did I thought to myself, "Man! This would've made an excellent element for a crossover. I don't know why none of the writers ever used this." So of course that's what I'm doing now.

As you might have also guessed, this story is heavily influenced by the events of the video games that Ryo originally stared in. Of course when I read about the games on the Digimon Wiki, it didn't look like they quite meshed with the events of the anime. So I'm making a few changes here and there to smooth things out.

Review and let me know what you think.


	2. The Girl With the Yellow Fox

**Author's Note:** if you haven't figured out the other two guest stars in this story are, the title of this chapter should pretty much tell you.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

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><p>Chapter 1: The Girl With the Yellow Fox<p>

The next day, Ken and Yolei headed out to a small café out by Tokyo tower with Wormmon and Hawkmon to meet with Izzy Izumi, the genius of the first group of Digidestined. Izzy had asked them to meet with him a couple of days ago to talk about something that he would not discuss over the phone. For the entire trip, Ken kept thinking about what he thought he saw the previous day. He still couldn't figure out if he had really seen his childhood friend Ryo Akiyama, or if his mind was playing some kind of horrible trick on him. Naturally Ken did not speak for most of the trip.

Traveling with Ken and Yolei was their friend and fellow Digidestined, Davis Motomiya. Also with them was the small blue-green dragon-like creature that was Davis's Digimon partner, Veemon.

"So do you guys know what this meeting is about?" Davis asked the two in an attempt to break the silence.

"For the fifth time, no!" Yolei said sounding irritated. "Why do you keep asking that when you already know the answer?"

"Well, I'm just a little nervous that Izzy is asking us to meet him to talk about… Lily." Davis replied.

Yolei's expression softened a bit when Davis mentioned Lily. The girl in question was actually a very evil Digimon called Lilithmon, who used very powerful methods of seduction to enslave Davis and turn Veemon into a savage monster. Since that incident, Davis felt very guilty about giving into Lilithmon and almost causing Ken and Wormmon's deaths as a result. It didn't help either that Davis had just gotten out of a deep depression caused by the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and fellow Digidestined, Kari Kamiya.

At last the group arrived at the café. Sitting at one of the tables outside the door was a young man with short brown hair and wearing a dirty orange t-shirt, green pants, and red sneakers. The young man in question of course was Izzy, and he was concentrating on the laptop that he had brought with him. Standing right next to Izzy's chair was an almost dog-sized reddish-purple creature that resembled a ladybug. This of course was Izzy's Digimon Tentomon.

Also sitting at the table was a young man with short, very dark-brown hair and wearing a tan t-shirt and grey pants. Down next to his chair was a large gold armadillo-like creature. The young man was another member of the Digidestined, Cody Hida, and the creature with him was his Digimon partner, Armadillomon. Yolei greeted the two Digidestined, causing Izzy to finally turn his attention away from his laptop. The three sat down at the table and the conversation began.

"So, why did you ask us here Izzy?" Yolei asked.

"I brought you all here to discuss Lilithmon." Izzy replied, causing Davis to flinch. "Or more accurately something that Lilithmon said during your battle with her. You said that she mentioned that she was part of a group called the Seven Lords, correct?"

"That's right." Ken confirmed. "She also said something about fighting the gods of the Digital World ages ago."

"For the last few days Cody has been helping me study some ruins in the Digital World." Izzy explained. "We didn't find much, except for this."

Izzy turned the screen of his laptop to face Ken, Yolei, and Davis. The screen showed the picture of a stone carving depicting seven symbols that were a little similar to the crests of virtue used by the Digidestined.

"Are these crests?" Ken asked.

"They might be crests of a sort." Izzy replied. "I've done a little analysis and have discovered that the crests represent the seven deadly sins, envy, gluttony, sloth, greed, lust, wrath, and pride. According to some of the other carvings I found, these symbols also represent a group of powerful Digimon, though their names were nowhere to be found in any of the carvings. Even the name of the group itself wasn't mentioned. Matt told me after the battle that the other powerful Digimon you faced that day, Beelzemon, called himself the lord of gluttony. That might indicate that he was Lilithmon's equal, instead of just a servant."

"Wait, so are you saying that those two are part of the same group?" Yolei asked.

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Izzy replied. "A very ancient group that might be the most powerful enemy that we've ever faced."

Izzy's theorizing was interrupted by a sudden but brief tremor. The group got up from their table and looked down the street to find that a large black obelisk had appeared. They immediately recognized the object as a control spire, one of the devices that Ken had used during his time as the Digimon Emperor to inhibit natural Digimon evolution. It seemed that the control spire was not the only thing that appeared however. There was also a small army of brown and rather clunky looking robots. The group recognized them as Guardromon, a race of mechanical Digimon that were known to serve as soldiers for both good and evil.

Immediately the gathered group of Digidestined decided to act. Davis was the first. He took out the palm pilot-like device that was his D-Terminal. When Veemon was ready, Davis fired up the device, causing his D-3 to glow and Veemon to transform in a flash of blue light.

"Veemon armor digivolve to… Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!" Veemon cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name and title.

When the flash cleared, Veemon had transformed into a large four-legged wolf-like dragon covered in black armor. A gold blade in the shape of a lightning bolt jutted out from his mask like a horn. Immediately Raidramon rushed off to fight the Guardromon, firing several bolts of lightening from his horn.

"Hey Ken!" Cody called as he held out his own D-Terminal to the black haired Digidestined. "I think that in this situation it might be more useful for Wormmon to evolve with one of my eggs."

"Thanks Cody." Ken said as he took the D-Terminal and fired it up. "Ready Wormmon?"

Wormmon hopped off of Ken's back and nodded. With the push of a button, Ken's D-3 began to glow with a purple light and Wormmon began to transform with a flash.

"Wormmon armor digivolve to… Searchmon, the Seeker of Knowledge!" Wormmon cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name and title.

When the light cleared, Wormmon had transformed into a large grey mechanical looking beetle that had Wormmon's trademark feelers and a large radar dish on his back that bore the crest of knowledge on top.

"Jamming Hertz!" Searchmon cried as he sent out sound waves from the dish on his back. The Guardromon that were hit by the attack became confused and started attacking each other.

"Here Cody." Yolei said as she held out her D-Terminal to the dark-brown haired Digidestined.

"Aren't you and Hawkmon going to fight?" Cody asked.

"I brought Kari's D-Terminal with me just in case something like this happened." Yolei answered.

"I see." Cody said in understanding as he took the offered D-Terminal. "Okay, you ready Armadillomon?"

"Ready whenever you are Cody." Armadillomon answered.

Cody fired up the D-Terminal, causing his D-3 to glow and Armadillomon to transform with a flash of red light.

"Armadillomon armor digivolve to… Pteramon, Super Sonic Love!" Armadillomon cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name and title.

When the light cleared, Armadillomon had transformed into a large blue mechanical pterodactyl with wings armed with missiles.

"Pteramon go take down the control spire while the others handle the Guardromon!" Cody commanded.

"Roger!" Pteramon replied as he took off.

Pteramon flew over the Guardromon army that was being decimated by the combined force of Raidramon and Searchmon. Just as the mechanical dinosaur was about to fire a missle at the spire, a large fanged eyeless creature that resembled a praying mantis attacked him. The group of Digidestined recognized the creature as a Snimon. It seemed that Pteramon was having trouble fighting off the mantis Digimon. Yolei pulled out the D-Terminal that had belonged to Kari and was about to activate it, but then she glanced up to the top of one of the nearby buildings and noticed another Digimon watching the battle.

The Digimon in question was a yellow humanoid fox that wore only purple fingerless gloves. Yolei of course wondered if the Digimon was another enemy. Her question was soon answered though when the yellow fox leapt from the top of the building at Snimon. The fox's feet suddenly became covered in blue flames as it delivered a powerful kick to Snimon that knocked the mantis Digimon to the ground. With a flip the fox landed with its feet on the ground. Snimon got back up and was preparing to counter attack, and by then everyone else had noticed the fox's arrival.

"I don't believe it!" Tentomon exclaimed. "That's a Renamon! I thought that Digimon only existed in legend!"

Immediately Izzy fired up his laptop and plugged his Digivice into the special port on the keyboard. The laptop's analyzer program brought up information on the fox Digimon.

"It says that Renamon is only a Rookie level Digimon." Izzy said to the group as he looked over the information.

"THAT'S only a Rookie?" Davis asked in disbelief. "Could've fooled me!"

It was at that point that Ken had suddenly noticed someone emerge from a nearby ally. The person in question was a young woman who looked to be about the same age as the Digidestined. She had red hair that only went past her shoulders and wore sunglasses, and a black trench coat that was opened to reveal a grey shirt and black jeans. The young woman pulled out what looked to be a Digivice that was of a different design from anything that Ken had seen before, along with what looked to be playing cards.

"You ready Renamon?" the young woman called out.

"Whenever you are Rika!" the fox Digimon called back in a clearly female voice.

"Digi-Modify!" the girl known only as Rika called out as she slashed a card through a grove in the side of her Digivice. "Speed activate!"

Just as Snimon brought down one of its scythe blades, Renamon jumped out of the way and began moving at lightning speed around the mantis. Snimon soon found itself being hit by flaming kicks and punches along with barrages of crystal shards.

"Digi-Modify!" Rika called out as she slashed another card through her Digivice. "Crystal Fire activate!"

Renamon briefly glowed with a blue aura and with a flaming punch broke one of Snimon's scythe blades, causing the mantis Digimon to roar in pain. With that, Renamon jumped into the air and got behind Snimon.

"Digi-Modify!" Rika called out as she slashed one more card through her Digivice. "Supreme Cannon activate!"

Renamon's right arm became covered in grey armor with a spiked shoulder and a gauntlet in the shape of a metal wolf head. The jaws of the wolf head opened up to reveal the barrel of a large cannon. Renamon took aim.

"Supreme Cannon!" Renamon cried as she fired the cannon.

The blast from the cannon hit Snimon and froze the mantis Digimon solid. Renamon's right arm returned to normal, and she then delivered a flying kick covered in blue flames. The impact had shattered Snimon into several fragments that had started to dissolve into particles of data. The Digidestined looked at Renamon in awe as she walked back to the young woman who was known only to them as Rika. Cody, however, soon remembered the current situation.

"Pteramon, take out the control spire!" Cody commanded to the dinosaur Digimon who had been watching the battle.

"Huh? Oh yeah, on it!" Pteramon called back before flying off to take down the spire.

With a blast of his missiles, Pteramon took down the control spire. Raidramon and Searchmon meanwhile had finished off the last of the Guardromon. The crisis had been averted, though the arrival of the mysterious girl and the yellow fox did seem like another possible problem to the group. Immediately the five Digidestined went over to talk to Rika before she tried to leave.

"Hey!" Ken called out, causing Rika to stop in her tracks. "Who the heck are you."

Rika stopped and lowered her sunglasses, revealing a pair of striking blue eyes. Those eyes became filled with shock as she took a good look at the group.

"What the hell?" Rika said as she unconsciously took a couple steps back. "What's going on here? What kind of weird world is this? I mean the control spire was weird enough, but this is… this is too much! What kind of trick are you trying to pull?"

"Calm down lady! What the hell's your problem?" Davis asked somewhat undiplomatically.

"My problem is that you shouldn't exist!" Rika shouted as she pointed an accusing finger at the group. "You're all just characters in a T.V. show!"

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I don't think that you could ask for a better opening than that. Well, maybe you could. I wasn't originally planing to have a control spire in this chapter, but I couldn't resist doing one more battle where they switched D-Terminals. Wormmon has some pretty cool armor evolutions. Of course the Digimon Wiki didn't say what Searchmon's Jamming Hertz attack did, so I just made up that it could scramble the circuits Machine-type Digimon. That's mostly the reason why I decided to put in a Guardromon army.

As for Renamon using Omnimon's Supreme Cannon to finish Snimon off, I put that in because I thought that would make a good part to a flashy finishing move. I kinda wish that they explored the whole Digi-Modify thing in Tamers a little more. Although with the whole biomerge thing, who really cares. You might have also noticed that I changed Rika's look a little bit. She no longer has that whole "pineapple head" hairstyle. I did that for two reasons. One is that I didn't think that it would be a hair style that Rika would have in her early twenties. The other reason is because I simply never liked that hair style.

The next chapter will be the exposition of how this little crossover is possible. In the meantime, review and let me know what you think.


	3. What Really Happened To Ryo Akiyama

**Author's Note:** This chapter pretty much explains how Rika and Renamon got to the Adventure/Adventure 02 universe, and a few other things. So grab a soda and kick back. You'll want to pay attention to this chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

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><p>Chapter 2: What Really Happened To Ryo Akiyama<p>

Not long after the attack of the Guardromon, the group had gathered at Ken and Yolei's apartment, and they had convinced the young woman known as Rika and her Digimon partner Renamon to come with them. They had not been able to get very much out of the girl, except that her full name was Rika Nonaka. Other than that she would not say much. Since they had gotten to the apartment, Rika only sat in the middle of the couch with her arms crossed and did not say a word. The rest of the group sat gathered around her on the various other pieces of furniture.

Meanwhile in another corner of the room, Renamon was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. The rest of the Digimon had gathered around her, and like their Digidestined partners who were having trouble talking to Rika; they were having difficulties talking to Renamon. The problem that the Digimon group was having was that they were simply intimidated by Renamon, especially Wormmon. Whenever one member of the group would try to speak to the fox Digimon, Renamon would look at them with her cold icy-blue eyes and cause them to back down. As a result, the entire room was filled by an awkward silence.

"So…" Yolei began in an attempt to break the silence. "We're in a T.V. show where you come from."

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Rika replied with a cold stare. "In my world you guys are nothing but characters in an anime."

"Was I your favorite character?" Davis suddenly asked. Both Rika and Yolei glared at Davis, while Ken, Cody, and Izzy looked at him with deadpan expressions. "Uh, never mind."

"Do you really expect us to believe that we're just characters in a cartoon?" Ken asked Rika with a tone of skepticism.

"Do you really expect me to believe that you're really who you say you are?" Rika retorted.

"If we are television characters in the world where you claim to come from Ms. Nonaka, than perhaps you could tell us the events of this series." Izzy suggested.

Rika looked at Izzy for a moment, then sighed and finally recounted everything that she remembered from the Digimon anime series that she had watched when she was younger. The Digidestined were shocked to find that it conformed exactly to the events of their early adventures. Rika also told them of the merchandise that the Digimon anime of her world had produced, such as a trading card game. She even showed them the cards used for that game, which were the very cards that she had used to power up Renamon during the previous battle.

"Alright, we'll assume for the moment that you're telling the truth Ms. Nonaka." Izzy began after hearing Rika's story. "How exactly did to get to our world?"

"…Renamon and I were chasing after an evil Digimon." Rika began after a short pause. "The Digimon we were after, Barbamon, had escaped through this weird portal. Renamon and I followed him through and we wound up at this weird depressing beach."

"That sounds like The Dark Ocean!" Ken interrupted.

"Wait, now that you mention it, it does…" Rika said after suddenly remembering something from the T.V. show that she had watched when she was younger. "Anyway, Renamon and I ended up wondering along that beach for what seemed like forever until we came across another portal. We went through hoping it would lead to Barbamon, and also to get out of that place. And the next thing we know, we're in T.V. land."

"Why were you chasing this Barbamon?" Davis asked.

"He captured a friend of mine." Rika replied. "His name's Ryo."

"Wait, did you say Ryo?" Ken asked sounding a bit shocked.

"Yeah, Ryo Akiyama." Rika answered. "Why, do you not like his name or something?"

Ken stood up form his chair with an expression of utter shock on his face. Yolei and Izzy were also very surprised to hear that name, as were Wormmon, Hawkmon, and Tentomon.

"Hey, what's with you guys?" Davis asked with an understandably confused expression.

"It, it can't be…" Ken said with a mixture of shock and what might be called fright. "How, how could you know Ryo?"

"Wait, are you saying that you actually know Ryo too?" Rika asked sounding just as surprised as Ken.

"Ken said that he met Ryo when he first became a Digidestined." Yolei replied in Ken's place, as he was too shocked to speak at the moment. "In fact they were once neighbors."

"I'm actually a bit surprised that you knew Ryo, Ken." Izzy interrupted.

"You know this Ryo guy too Izzy?" Davis asked sounding surprised.

"As a matter of fact I do." Izzy replied. "In fact he not only saved me, but everyone else who fought the Dark Masters and Apocalymon."

"What happened exactly?" Cody asked.

"I suppose that it all began after WarGreymon defeated Machinedramon of the Dark Masters." Izzy began. "Nobody is sure how exactly it happened, but as we found out later, somehow Machindramon, or at least his data, survived and found another Digimon that was on the verge of death, a Kimeramon."

"Hold on! I thought that Kimeramon was a Digimon that Ken made when he was still the Digimon Emperor." Davis interrupted. "How could that thing have existed back then?"

"It is entirely possible that Kimeramon was not an original creation of Ken's." Izzy replied. "As I was saying, Machinedramon and this Kimeramon had DNA digivolved into one new being, perhaps for the soul purpose of survival. It was probably no different from two damaged space probes both equipped with complex A.I. encountering each other and using each other's parts in a simple attempt to repair themselves, only to inadvertently become far more powerful than anyone could have imagined. That was the result when Machinedramon and Kimeramon combined, a creature so absurdly powerful that it could manipulate time and space, Millenniummon."

"Wait a minute, Wormmon said that Ken's Dark Spore came from Millenniummon." Hawkmon said in an attempt to join in on the conversation.

"Hmm, I suppose that could mean that the Dark Spore contained information on Millenniummon's pre-evolved forms, and that Ken had subconsciously used that information to create the Kimeramon that he used as the Digimon Emperor." Izzy theorized. "But once again we seem to be getting away from the story. As I was saying, Millenniummon had the power to manipulate time and space, and he had used that power to not only capture us, but also revive some of our fallen enemies. It seemed to us that there was no hope for survival that time, but somehow Agumon had escaped with Tai's Digivice and was able to get help. That help came from Ryo Akiyama.

"Ryo had been pulled into the Digital World and worked with our Digimon partners and a few of the allies we'd made during our original journey to defeat Millenniummon. With Millenniummon gone, we had all been released and time had returned to normal. After that Ryo had returned home. The whole experience was interesting to say the least, but one of the most interesting things about it was Ryo himself. If he was truly a Digidestined, he was not a normal one. He did not have a Digimon partner of his own or even his own Digivice. Instead he teamed up with other Digimon that were either wild or partners to other Digidestined. I suppose that in a way he was as odd an occurrence as Millenniummon."

"…That's exactly how he was when I met him." Ken suddenly said after remaining silent. "When Wormmon and I met Ryo he was able to command Digimon that just seemed to be in the area. That's how we fought Millenniummon."

"Wait, you mean Millenniummon came back?" Davis asked in an attempt to figure out what was going on.

"I didn't even know that Ryo had fought Milleniummon before in the past when I met him." Ken replied. "Izzy, why are we just hearing about Ryo's original battle with Millenniummon now? Why didn't we know about any of this before?"

"This is not an easy subject for me or any of the other original Digidestined to talk about Ken." Izzy replied as his expression suddenly saddened a little. "Ken, do you know anything about the D-1 Tournament?"

"I actually do a little." Ken replied. "The last time that Ryo was over at my house while I was still sick from being infected with the Dark Spore, he used my computer and found some kind of quiz meant to find participants for that tournament. Once he finished it he was taken to the Digital World again. I don't really know too much other than that, except that I never saw Ryo again after that incident."

"I see… Then I suppose I should explain just what the tournament was." Izzy began. "The tournament was actually a rouse concocted by the Harmonious Ones to train Ryo to fight Millenniummon one last time. Millenniummon had evolved since our last encounter with him. He had become Moon=Millenniummon, a being that had evolved beyond the need of a physical form and had become a sort of spirit that dwelled inside a large crystal. For whatever reason Ryo was the only one strong enough to defeat him, but he needed to be trained. So the Harmonious Ones and Gennai had concocted a false tournament with the premise that the winner would be partnered with one of the Harmonious Ones to fight his corrupted brethren.

"Tai, Matt, Sora, Joe, Mimi, and myself were all asked to participate. None of us knew that the tournament was a lie until Ryo had won, as he was supposed to. I actually recall Tai telling me that he thought Ryo had become colder and more distant after that incident. Though I suppose I could hardly blame him after being deceived in such a way. After the truth behind the tournament was exposed, Ryo went to Moon=Millenniummon's castle for the final battle. Sometime after Ryo had gotten there, the castle exploded. We searched several times, but there was no sign of Ryo. We had no choice but to assume the worst."

Ken, Davis, Yolei, Cody, and Rika were all shocked by what they had just heard. Although Ken was a bit more than shocked, he was a little angry. For years he had wondered what had happened to his old friend, and he had just found out that he had not only been presumed dead, but that six of the original Digidestined had known about it the whole time and had said nothing. Ken didn't really know who to be madder at though. Was he to be madder at Izzy and the others for hiding what they knew of Ryo's fate, or at the Harmonious Ones for using Ryo like they did? It was a shocking revelation to say the least.

"Hold on brainiac!" Rika loudly interrupted. "Let's say I believe this weird story of yours that Ryo is from your world. Well if that's true, than how did he end up in mine?"

"Actually Ms. Nonaka, if the story of where you come from is indeed true, than it opens up a possibility that we have never considered before." Izzy answered. "Moon=Millenniummon did in fact have the power to manipulate time and space. So it is conceivable that he could cross dimensions as well. It is possible that the explosion we saw was Millenniummon catapulting Ryo to another dimension, perhaps as some form of final revenge."

"…How did you first meet Ryo?" Ken asked Rika after a slight pause.

"…It was years ago at a tournament for the Digimon card game." Rika began. "I had made it to the final round, and my opponent was Ryo. He managed to wipe the floor with me and win the tournament. After that he seemed to vanish. I didn't run into Ryo again until later when some friends of mine and I went to the Digital World, that is the Digital World that exists where I come from, to take care of some things. While we were there we ran into Ryo. He said that he had gone to the Digital World to tame his partner, Cyberdramon."

"So, Ryo had a partner in your world?" Ken asked.

"Yeah, I guess he got him when he got there." Rika replied. "Of course I still don't really believe this story of yours."

"Cyberdramon was savage when we first met him." Renamon said, joining in on the conversation. "He had an insatiable desire for combat that made him want to fight everyone and everything he came across. That desire seemed to vanish during the battle with the D-Reaper, but there was something about that savagery that actually terrified me a bit. Though there were times when it seemed to me that Cyberdarmon was fighting something within himself."

"Wait a minute, what the heck is the D-Reaper?" Davis interrupted.

"That's a long story." Rika replied. "But Renamon is right about Cyberdramon being a battle crazed animal. There were few times that Ryo had told hold him back using some kind of energy whip that came out of his Digivice. Cyberdramon did seem to mellow out later on, just like Renamon said."

Suddenly Renamon tensed up and looked in the direction of one of the windows.

"Rika, I sense something right outside!" Renamon said to her partner. "Something dangerous."

Immediately Rika got up and stormed out of the apartment with Renamon following close behind. A moment later the Digidestined and their Digimon followed them. When the group got outside, they found a humanoid figure standing atop a nearby lamppost with his arms crossed. The figure had a mechanical right arm and wore a black and grey bodysuit. His face was completely covered by a metal mask, and he wore a very long and tattered red scarf around his neck. To the group he looked very much like a Japanese super hero.

"Who is this guy?" Davis asked.

"That's Justimon." Renamon replied as she narrowed her ice-blue eyes at the Digimon hero. "And there's something not right about him."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> One of the first things that I thought about when writing this chapter was how the other Digimon would interact with Renamon. I thought that they'd find Renamon intimidating, especially after they saw her take down that Snimon like she did in the last chapter. The metaphor about the space probes that Izzy used to describe how Millenniummon was formed is actually a reference to the original Star Trek. There's an episode where they encounter a powerful and very intelligent probe called Nomad that was formed when a probe from Earth became damaged and found an equally damaged alien probe, and the two repaired each other by combing essentially. It's a really good episode.

When I had first read about Millenniummon years ago on the Digimon Wiki, I almost immediately thought of that Star Trek episode. The description of Millenniummon had said that it was formed when a dying Machindramon and Kimeramon combined for reasons unknown. It really didn't seem that unknown to me. I mean Machindramon is basically a robot, and Kimeramon is a robot of sorts, only it was made from organic parts. It seemed to me that they combined for the simple purpose of repairing each other.

Anyway, it had seemed to me that the anime had implied that Kimeramon was an original creation of Ken's. But that didn't make sense if Millenniummon was formed by another Kimeramon. So I came up with the idea that the Dark Spore had actually influenced Kimeramon's creation. I also made a small change to the events of the video game where Ryo and Ken fought Millenniummon. In that game, Ryo was partnered with Davis's Veemon, but that didn't make sense to me, so instead I just had it so Ryo used various Digimon that were around.

The action starts up again in the next chapter, so stay tuned. In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	4. Dark Hero

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Dark Hero<p>

Outside of Ken and Yolei's apartment building, the group had encountered a super hero-type Digimon that Renamon had referred to as Justimon. It was clear to the Digidestined that Rika and Renamon knew Justimon. The question was though if Justimon was a friend or a foe. Renamon's reaction seemed to indicate that he was indeed the latter, but Rika's expression seemed to show something different. Her expression seemed to be that of confusion.

"Hello Ken, it's been a long time since we last saw each other." Justimon called down from his perch atop the lamppost. "You're looking well I see, I'm guessing that the girl in the glasses is your girlfriend. She's a bit plain looking, but I guess we can't all date beauty queens."

"Hey! Try coming down here and saying that to my face jerk!" an angry and insulted Yolei shouted.

"Well she is feisty, I'll give you that." Justimon laughed before taking another look at the group and noticing Rika. "Well, I'm certainly surprised to see you here Rika. I don't know how you and Renamon managed to come to my old world, but I have to admit that this is a pleasure."

"What's going on here Ryo?" Rika demanded. Ken and the others were confused by why Rika referred to Justimon as Ryo. Though Ken did note something a little familiar about Justimon's voice, but he could not see how Ryo and Justimon could be one and the same.

"You want to know what's going on Rika?" Justimon asked in a wry tone. "It's very simple. I'm here for revenge."

With that, Justimon jumped down from the lamppost. His mechanical forearm transformed into a much larger arm with a three-fingered hand. Justimon slammed his arm into the ground and sent a shockwave at the group. They managed to dive out of the way just in time. Meanwhile, Justimon laughed as his forearm returned to its original shape.

"Rika, something has happened to Justimon!" Renamon said to her human partner. "I don't think we have any choice but to fight him!"

"I guess you're right." Rika reluctantly agreed. "Ready?"

Renamon nodded and Rika's Digivice let out the mechanized cry of one word.

"BIOMERGE!"

With that word, Rika turned into a ball of blue light that entered Renamon and caused a transformation that was startling to the Digidestined.

"Renamon, biomerge digivolve to… Sakuyamon!" Renamon cried as she transformed.

When her transformation had finished, Renamon had changed into a more human looking Digimon. She had long silver hair that had been braded to look like two foxtails. On her face she wore a golden fox mask, and golden armor on her chest and shoulders. Under that armor she wore a black bodysuit with a white section on the stomach. She retained the elbow-high fingerless purple gloves she wore as Renamon, and also had on a matching pair of knee-high high heeled boots. A black belt with four tubes and a gold buckle in the shape of a fox head completed the outfit. The Digidestined and their Digimon looked at Sakuyamon with shocked expressions.

"Did, did they… just merge?" a very stunned Yolei asked.

"It would appear so." Izzy replied. "And that merging seems to have caused Renamon to evolve."

"Hold on!" Ken said as he suddenly realized something. "If Rika and Renamon can merge togther to become Sakuyamon, then maybe that means that Justimon is Ryo merged with his partner."

The rest of the group was equally shocked by this revelation. Meanwhile, a golden staff appeared in Sakuyamon's right hand as she prepared to do battle with Justimon. With a wave of her staff, Sakuyamon sent a blast of crystalline cherry blossoms at the dark hero. Justimon jumped out of the way before the blast hit him.

"So you're actually going to fight me?" Justimon asked sounding amused. "You don't really think you stand a chance, do you?"

"Oh, now you're just asking for it!" Sakuyamon said with Rika's voice in an annoyed tone. "I don't know what's gotten into you Ryo, but I'm gonna enjoy knocking some sense into you! Dragon Helix!"

With those two words, four multicolored fox spirits emerged from the tubes hanging from Sakuyamon's belt and formed a helix that hit Justimon. The dark hero seemed unfazed however.

"Okay, I'll admit that wasn't bad, but how about THIS?" Justimon said before firing a ball of blue energy from the fist of his mechanical arm.

Sakuyamon batted the energy ball away with her staff, but as soon as she did Justimon jumped into the air and delivered a flying kick to her stomach. Before Sakuyamon could fully recover, Justimon changed his mechanical forearm to its giant form and slammed it into the ground, creating another shockwave. The wave hit Sakuyamon and caused her to fall to the ground and split back into Rika and Renamon.

"You always were the weakest of the Tamers." Justimon said with a cruel laugh. "Even after you and Renamon were able to biomerge you could never quite hold a candle to me, Takato, or even Henry. Maybe I should finish you off right now. But then I wouldn't be able to have the fun of beating and humiliating you all over again."

"Stop it Ryo!" Ken called to Justimon. "This isn't like you! The Ryo I knew all those years ago wouldn't do this! What's happened to you?"

"Shut up you pathetic insect!" Justimon said coldly to Ken. "You know nothing about what I am! You yourself are nothing more than a pitiful shadow to a brother that was far superior to you!"

Justimon's words caused Ken to flash back to when he and Ryo fought Millenniummon. They were almost the exact same words that Millenniummon had said to him back then. Ken became lost in that flashback, causing him to freeze up and for Yolei, Davis, and Wormmon to worry.

"Don't waste your time on someone like him." Justimon laughed. "Someone as useless as he is can't help you against me."

"Shut up!" Davis shouted to the dark hero. "That's it, I say we take this guy down now!"

"I don't think that's a very wise idea." Izzy disagreed. "Look at the power that he's demonstrated so far. Considering the condition that Ken is in right now, I don't think we can defeat him."

"I think Izzy is right." Cody agreed. "Fighting Justimon as strong as he is on our own would be a really bad idea. We should retreat and get help."

"You think this nut is just going to let us leave?" Davis retorted. "We have to fight him! Veemon, go get him!"

Veemon nodded and began glowing with a blue light.

"Veemon digivolve to… ExVeemon!" Veemon cried as he began to transform, his voice becoming deeper with the utterance of his other name.

Veemon had transformed into a very large and well muscled humanoid dragon with white wings and a bladed metal horn on his snout. On his chest was a V symbol with two lines below it that formed it into an X.

"I guess I'm with Davis. Go help him out Hawkmon!" Yolei commanded. Hawkmon nodded and began to glow with a red light.

"Hawkmon digivolve to… Aquillamon!" Hawkmon cried as he transformed, his voice deepening with the utterance of his other name.

Hawkmon had transformed into a giant eagle with blue talons and a pair of large black curved horns on the side of his head.

"Well, I suppose at this point we have no choice but to back them up." Izzy said to Cody. "Tentomon, get in there!"

Tentomon nodded and began to glow with a purple light.

"Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!" Tentomon cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name. Tentomon had transformed into a giant blue and grey insect-like creature with four wings. His transformation was not yet complete however. "Kabuterimon digivolve to… MegaKabuterimon!"

With his second transformation finished, Kabuterimon had become a giant red beetle-like creature with a single axe shaped horn and a green gemstone on the back of his shell.

"I guess we better help tos." Cody said reluctantly to his Digimon partner. "You get in there too Armadillomon!"

Armadillomon nodded and began to glow with a purple light.

"Armadillomon digivolve to… Ankylomon!" Armadillomon cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name.

Armadillomon had transformed into a large gold Ankylosaurus-like creature with a black mace-like tail and a row of black spikes along his back. The four newly evolved Digimon stood ready to face Justimon.

"Do you really expect to beat me with those weaklings?" Justimon asked in an arrogant tone. "Ah well, I suppose that's all you can manage since my old buddy Ken has frozen up like the coward he truly is."

Ankylomon then charged at Justimon, but the dark hero slammed his giant mechanical forearm into the ground that sent the Dinosaur Digimon into the air. As soon as his forearm returned to its original form, Justimon jumped into the air and hit Ankylomon with a flying kick. Ankylomon was knocked unconscious and reverted back to Armadillomon before hitting the ground. As Cody ran over to his fallen Digimon, ExVeemon fired a beam of energy from the symbol at his chest. Justimon jumped out of the way before it hit him and then delivered an electrified punch to ExVeemon's jaw with his mechanical fist.

ExVeemon fell to the ground and reverted to Veemon. It was then that MegaKabuterimon charged at Justimon and attempted to ram the dark hero with his horn. Justimon leapt back into the air and landed on the giant beetle's horn. His mechanical forearm changed into a large rectangular box-like device with a blade of red energy emitted from the end. Justimon then leapt off of MegaKabuterimon's horn, flipped in the air, and then slashed the giant beetle across the back. MegaKabuterimon fell on his right side and reverted back to Tentomon.

Justimon landed back on his feet behind the fallen beetle Digimon and his mechanical forearm changed back to its original form. Aquillamon then flew at Justimon and fired a red ring of red energy at him. Justimon once again jumped out of the way and fired a ball of blue energy from his mechanical fist. Aquillamon was hit by the attack in the chest and reverted back to Hawkmon. Justimon then grabbed Hawkmon by the neck before the bird Digimon could hit the ground.

"Hawkmon!" Yolei called as she suddenly started running out onto the battlefield.

Justimon landed behind Yolei and hit her on the back of her head with his left hand. The dark hero caught Yolei before she hit the ground, and after slinging her over his left shoulder he flipped back onto his original perch atop the lamppost.

"Yolei!" Davis called out, finally snapping Ken out of his flashback. Ken looked up to see that Yolei and Hawkmon were captured.

"Ah, welcome back Ken. I was wondering when you would finally join us again." Justimon called down. "Don't worry, at the moment I don't intend to kill your girlfriend, or any of you for that matter. But if you want her back, you're going to have to come get her at my new castle in the Digital World. You may bring everyone else that's here right now if you want, especially my dear Rika. But bring Tai or Matt or anyone else, and I won't hesitate to snap Yolei's neck. I'll be waiting for you, assuming of course you even have the guts to show up."

A portal suddenly appeared behind Justimon. The dark hero flipped backward into the portal before it vanished. Ken called Yolei's name just a second before the portal closed.

* * *

><p>Within the halls of a floating crystalline palace in the Digital World, Justimon emerged from the portal still carrying an unconscious Yolei and Hawkmon. Awaiting the dark hero was a dark-blue star-shaped creature with arms and legs. The creature wore very decorative red and black boots, and a pair of pointed shades on its core.<p>

"Welcome back Lord Justimon." The star-shaped creature greeted.

"Ah, DarkSuperStarmon. I trust things have been carrying on smoothly in my absence." Justimon greeted back.

"Of course my lord." DarkSuperStarmon replied. "Forgive me for asking, but who are the two you've brought with you?"

"They're bait to draw out someone I wish to settle a score with." Justimon replied. "Put them in the same cell, and just to be sure make sure to put the little birdie in his own cage."

"Of course my lord." DarkSuperStarmon replied. The star-shaped Digimon general called a pair of Guardromon over to take Yolei and Hawkmon from Justimon to a cell. "By the way my lord, Lord Barbamon is awaiting your presence in your throne room."

"Thanks for the heads up." Justimon replied before turning to leave.

A bit later, Justimon entered his throne room to find a humanoid Digimon awaiting him. The Digimon in question looked like an old man with yellow skin and a long grey beard that grew down past his knees. He had red eyes, pointed ears, and a large nose. On his back were three pairs of red bat-like wings, and his robes were red, purple, and black. He had blue abnormally large hands and long dark-blue claw-like fingernails. He wore several rings on his fingers and carried a staff with a red orb on top held in place by an animal skull.

"It is good to see you have returned Lord Justimon." The old Digimon greeted as he bowed humbly. "I trust that you were able to accomplish what you went to go do in the human world."

"Of course I did Barbamon. You would be able to tell right away if I wasn't." Justimon coldly replied as he walked to his throne to sit down. "It was actually a pleasant diversion, now that I think about it."

"So did you destroy the one who betrayed you all those years ago?" Barbamon asked.

"There's no rush." Justimon replied in a wry tone. "I do want to kill him, but I thought of a more fun idea. I captured his girlfriend to lure him here. If I'm right he'll muster up what little courage he has to rush here to rescue the girl."

"So you're going to kill him here?" Barbamon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Right after I push him to his limits." Justimon replied. "I want to give him one last glimmer of hope for victory before I crush him completely. THAT will be a more fitting revenge."

"You are far more devious than I ever imagined my lord." Barbamon complimented. "I assume that once you are finished with your revenge you will proceed with your plans to become master of all worlds."

"Of course." Justimon replied. "I will be a far greater ruler than that weakling Ken ever tried to be. He tried to be the Digimon Emperor, but I shall become the Digimon God!"

Barbamon grinned evilly at his so-called master, thinking to himself that everything was going exactly as he planned.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> There was a lot of fighting in this chapter. I think I'm getting more confident with writing battle scenes. I thought that Rika and Renamon biomerging would be real surprising to the Digidestined since they weren't prepared for it (so imagine how shocked they'll be when T.K. and Kari return, since I gave them the ability to biomerge in Home by the Sea). I wasn't originally planing to have Justimon (Ryo) kidnap Yolei, but I thought it'd be more exciting if I raised the stakes a bit. Oh, and if you've read Demon Crisis Book 1, than you probably already know what's really going on with Justimon and Barbamon (though I think I've made it pretty easy to figure out either way).

Review and let me know what you think.


	5. Resolve

**Author's Note:** I meant to have this chapter done a couple of days ago, but boy if I haven't been busy. Plus I've been watching some new anime, so that's eaten up a little time. Anyway, sorry for the slight delay. I'm not really crazy about the title I came up with for this chapter, but it was the best I could come up with.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Resolve<p>

Yolei woke up to find herself on a hard slab in a small room with crystalline walls. Her head was still pounding from the hit she received from Justimon. Very slowly she sat up on the slab. It took her a few moments to remember just what had happened before finding herself in the room. Then she finally recalled the battle with Justimon, and the last thing she remembered was Hawkmon being grabbed by the neck.

"Yolei, thank goodness you're alright." A familiar voice suddenly said in a relieved tone. Yolei looked around the room and saw Hawkmon in what looked like an iron birdcage hanging by the far wall.

"Hawkmon, you're alive!" Yolei said with a relieved smile. "Where are we?"

"We've been captured." Hawkmon replied. "Right now we're in a cell in Justimon's fortress."

"Sorry about roughing you up back there." A voice suddenly said. "Unfortunately it was necessary to capture you in order to lure Ken here for our final battle."

Yolei looked to the far side of the room by the door to find Justimon leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Let me out of here you psycho!" Yolei demanded.

"You're not in any position to be making orders." Justimon replied.

"Why are you doing all of this?" Yolei asked. "I thought that Ken was your friend!"

"So did I once upon a time." Justimon replied coldly. "But in the end he was nothing but a liar who betrayed our friendship."

"Wait, is this about that D-1 Tournament thing?" Yolei asked as she remembered part of the story of Ryo's disappearance. "Ken didn't know what that tournament was really about! He doesn't even remember all of what happened!"

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Justimon asked coldly. "Am I supposed to believe that it was just a coincidence that the 'entry quiz' for the tournament was on Ken's computer? I know that he was in on the Harmonious Ones' scheme from the beginning, just like all the other Digidestined!"

"That's not true!" Yolei insisted. "None of the original Digidestined knew about the real reason for the tournament, especially not Ken! Ken was devastated when you disappeared! He thought of you as a friend, but after what you've done he deserves a better friend than a psychotic son of a bitch like you!"

Justimon suddenly leapt forward and changed his mechanical forearm to the large attachment that emitted the energy blade. The blade was inches away from Yolei's face.

"I'd watch what you say if I were you." Justimon warned. "I wouldn't want Ken to come all this way just to rescue a corpse."

With that, Justimon converted his arm back to its original form and walked back to his original position on the other side of the room. Yolei breathed a small sigh of relief.

"The truth is I was nothing more than a tool to both the Digidestined and the Harmonious Ones." Justimon continued. "I was just someone to do the dirty work that they could not or would not do. They have no idea how I have suffered, nor do you! And for that I will make all of you pay! Before I am done I will kill every last Digidestined! The only reason why you are still breathing right now my dear Yolei is because I want Ken to be the first to die! Then once I'm done with the Digidestined I shall kill the Harmonious Ones and become the ruler of all worlds!"

With that, Justimon turned and began to leave.

"You say that you're going to kill all the Digidestined, does that include your friend Rika?" Yolei asked causing Justimon to stop in his tracks. "She came a long way to save you."

"Ah yes, my dear Rika." Justimon replied after a moment. "I was really surprised to see her in this world. But then she always managed to surprise me in some way. My plan for her actually was to make her my queen, but if she's going to fight me I guess I'll have no choice but to kill her too."

With that, Justimon finally left the cell. A blue transparent force field appeared in the door to keep Yolei trapped.

"What do we do now Yolei?" Hawkmon asked from his cage.

"Now we figure out a way to escape." Yolei answered with a determined expression.

* * *

><p>Back at Ken and Yolei's apartment, things looked pretty dismal for the Digidestined and their newfound Tamer friend. After the abduction of Yolei, Ken went back to his room to sulk, with Wormmon coming with him. Meanwhile, Rika had gone out to the balcony alone. This left Davis, Izzy, and Cody in the living room to figure out what to do next. Renamon was with them leaning against the wall and keeping to herself.<p>

"It should be a simple matter to locate Justimon's, or rather Ryo's, base." Izzy said as he began typing into his laptop. "The problem is what we are to do when we find it."

"That's easy! We just go over there and beat that jerk Ryo into the next millennium!" Davis replied.

"I don't think it's that easy." Cody disagreed. "You saw how badly he beat us. I'm not sure if we could survive another battle."

"I agree with Cody. We should call Matt or Tai to come help before charging into the fortress." Izzy suggested.

"Are you nuts Izzy? Ryo said that he'd kill Yolei if we brought backup!" Davis reminded them.

"I don't see that we have much choice." Izzy replied. "It's clear that we don't have the strength to beat Justimon on our own."

"Yeah we do." Davis insisted. "If Ken hadn't froze up during that battle, we could've clobbered that jerk Ryo with Imperialdramon. Plus we have Rika and Renamon, and those two are like super heroes."

"You're forgetting that Ms. Nonaka was also defeated in that battle." Izzy reminded Davis.

"That's because Rika and I were not fighting at our best in that battle." Renamon suddenly cut in. "There was something about Justimon that frightened me, something familiar that I couldn't place. Not only that, but Rika was terribly confused by Ryo's actions, she still is. That confusion also held me back."

"But you'll be able to give it your best next time we fight Ryo though, right?" Davis asked.

"We will." Renamon assured. "My question for you though is if your friend Ken will be able to fight."

"He will be, I'll make sure of it." Davis replied with a determined expression. "You just make sure that you and Rika are ready to fight."

"I'll leave it to you then." Renamon said before heading out to the balcony.

"Izzy, you and Cody work on finding out where Justimon is hiding." Davis commanded. "Veemon and I will go get Ken fired up. Let's go Veemon."

Veemon nodded and the two went off to talk to Ken, leaving Izzy and Cody alone with Tentomon and Armadillomon. With nothing else to do, Izzy set to work on finding Justimon's fortress.

* * *

><p>Out on the balcony, Rika was looking up at the moon. She went over the battle with Justimon again and again. Rika was desperately trying to figure out why Ryo had done what he did. It made absolutely no sense to her. The Ryo that she knew would never do such things. Then of course there was the story that she had heard not long before the battle began about Ryo's true origins. What troubled Rika the most about that story was that it seemed like it was true, and it made her wonder if she truly knew Ryo at all.<p>

"Trying to figure out what to do?" a familiar voice suddenly asked. Rika turned to see Renamon standing in front of the door.

"How long have you been there?" Rika asked.

"Not long." Renamon replied. "I'm not sure if I've seen you this uncertain before."

"I just can't figure out why Ryo would do all this." Rika said after a short pause.

"Shouldn't that be obvious to you?" Renamon asked. "That Digimon that captured Ryo, Barbamon, probably did something to him, or perhaps to Cyberdramon. When Justimon showed up, I sensed something about him that frightened me. I couldn't figure out what it was at the time, but now it's clear to me that what I felt was that same savagery that Cyberdramon had when we first met him. Only it seemed like it was magnified somehow. Whatever darkness is in Cyberdramon, I think that it's affected Ryo."

"I wish I could be as sure about that as you." Rika said with a sad expression. "But after what I've heard tonight I just don't know."

"Is this about the story of where Ryo really came from?" Renamon asked, though she knew what the answer was. "Do you really believe it to be true?"

"Not at first, but the more I thought about it and about what I've seen today, I'm sure it's true." Rika replied. "What I can't figure out now is why Ryo never told me about where he really came from. Why didn't he tell any of us?"

"It seems that Ryo has a past that's far more troubled than we could've imagined." Renamon replied. "It's not surprising that he would have a very hard time telling anyone about it."

"It makes me wonder if he's been hiding any other secrets from us." Rika responded. "Maybe the Ryo we saw tonight is how he really is."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Renamon asked.

"I don't know what to believe…" Rika replied.

"You're in love with him, aren't you Rika?" Renamon asked, though the fox Digimon was sure that she already knew what the answer was.

"…How'd you know?" Rika asked sounding mildly surprised.

"I've known you for too long." Renamon replied. "I've noticed how you've acted around Ryo, especially recently. Not that I'm an expert on love of course."

"Well, you're right." Rika admitted. "I am in love with Ryo, but now I don't know who he is."

"So you're not going to try and find out?" Renamon asked.

"I'm too afraid." Rika answered flatly. "I'm afraid that the Ryo we saw tonight is how he really is. I don't think I could stand it if I found out the Ryo I fell in love with was all an act."

"Even so, you need to find out." Renamon replied. "If you truly are in love with Ryo, then you owe it to yourself to find out the truth. And if he really is under Barbamon's spell, then you might be the only one who can save him."

"But, wouldn't that mean that I would have to fight Ryo?" Rika asked. "I don't know if I could do that."

"If you truly want to save Ryo, than I know you can do whatever it takes to do it." Renamon replied. "And you know that whatever you decide to do, I'll follow you no matter what."

Rika was silent for a moment. She thought about everything that Renamon had said. Rika was no longer sure about who Ryo really was, but she was sure that she at least wanted to find out, and if Ryo really did need to be saved, than she would do whatever was necessary to do that.

"Okay Renamon." Rika said with a look of determination in her eyes. "Let's do what we came here to do and save Ryo!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in his room, Ken was sitting on the end of the bed looking down at the floor with a sad expression on his face. He could not believe that he had allowed the woman he loved to be kidnapped right in front of his eyes. Wormmon was also in the room trying to cheer Ken up, but the little larva Digimon could think of nothing to snap Ken out of his depression. Davis and Veemon soon arrived at the doorway. Davis knocked on the open door, getting Ken's attention.<p>

"Hey man, how're holding up?" Davis asked.

"How do you think?" Ken replied.

"Yeah, sorry. Stupid question I guess." Davis said as he stepped a little further into the room. "You probably feel as bad as I did when Kari disappeared."

"You didn't see Kari get taken away right in front of you." Ken responded. "Yolei got captured while I just stood there!"

"Why did you freeze up back there?" Davis asked.

"…What Justimon, I mean Ryo, said to me in that battle… was exactly what Millenniummon said to me before Ryo and I fought him that last time." Ken said after a brief pause. "Those words brought back all the memories of that battle. That battle was one of the most frightening things I've ever experienced. And all that fear came back I was just so overwhelmed that I couldn't move."

"Wow dude, no offence but you have one traumatic childhood." Davis said after a moment. "No one could blame you for freezing up because of something like that."

"Yeah, well in this case it put Yolei's life in danger." Ken retorted. "I shouldn't have allowed it to happen. I should've been strong enough to not let it happen! Ryo and Millenniummon were right, I am worthless."

"What? Dude, that's not true!" Davis insisted. "Ken, you're one of the strongest people I know! You've proved that again and again in all the battles we fought in the past. Heck, if it wasn't for you I would've wound up as Lily's sex slave and done things I would've never forgiven myself for. It was with your help that I was able to break free of her. And right now you're probably the only one who can save Yolei, so don't go selling yourself short right now."

"Davis is right!" Veemon agreed. "You're an awesome person Ken, and Davis and I will back you up all the way!"

"Ken, Davis and Veemon are right." Wormmon said finally speaking up. "You really are a strong person. Someone who was weak wouldn't have been able to overcome the darkness that you've been through. But you did, you overcame the darkness that consumed you and made you the Digimon Emperor, and since then you've become even stronger than ever. So don't give up on yourself now Ken, not when Yolei needs you."

"…Thanks you guys." Ken said with a faint smile. "But there's still another problem, Ryo is still my friend. I know that tonight he's done some evil things, but I don't believe that he could just turn evil like that. Something's come over him."

"Okay, then we'll save him too." Davis replied. "If we have to we'll beat him until he becomes his old self again."

"…Okay then." Ken said as he got up. A look of newfound determination was in his eyes. "Let's go save both Yolei and Ryo!"

At that point, Cody suddenly entered the room.

"You guys, Izzy just found Justimon's fortress." Cody informed them.

"We'll be right there." Davis responded.

A few moments later, Ken, Davis, Cody, and their Digimon reentered the living room. Izzy and Rika were waiting for them.

"I've located the area of the Digital World where Justimon's base is located." Izzy informed them. "The portal should set us down in a location very close to it."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Davis asked. "Let's go there and kick some butt!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> This chapter was a little break from the action to do a little character stuff. I had originally planned to have the scene with Yolei and Justimon(Ryo) at the beginning of the next chapter, but it seemed to make more sense to have it this chapter instead. I ended up having to rewrite the scene with Rika and Renamon a couple of times. Nothing major, but it didn't seem to sound quite right the first time I wrote it. I had thought long and hard about how Rika would react to finding out about where Ryo really came from. It would be pretty shocking to find out that your significant other was from another dimension.

The action is going to pick up quite a bit in the next chapter. In the meantime review and let me know what you think.


	6. Storming the Castle

**Author's Note:** This chapter ended up being shorter than I thought it would be, so I was able to finish it in one night. By the way, there's a tiny Battlestar Galactica reference in this chapter. See if you can't spot it.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Storming the Castle<p>

After making a few preparations, the group of Digidestined and their Tamer friend Rika had arrived in a wasteland area of the Digital World. It did not take them long to find Justimon's fortress. Hovering in the sky not too far away was an immense crystal palace. Upon seeing it, Izzy noted that it looked very similar to the palace that Moon=Millenniummon used before Ryo faced him that final time before disappearing. Ken and Rika were a bit disturbed by the observation, but they put it out of their minds for the moment, for they had other things to worry about.

"Any ideas on how to get up there?" Ken asked the group.

"Easy, we just fly up there on Imperialdramon and blast our way in." Davis suggested.

"You really are as stupid as you are on the T.V. show!" Rika said to Davis. "We can't just charge our way in there like that! For all we know that fortress could be armed to the teeth!"

"Ms. Nonaka is right Davis." Izzy agreed. "We need to find a way to enter the castle that's a bit more subtle."

"Well I don't see you guys coming up with any better ideas!" Davis said sounding offended. "I mean c'mon, that thing is a fortress that's in the sky! How're we supposed to find a subtle way in?"

While the rest of the group was talking, Cody was examining the fortress through the binoculars he brought with. He soon noticed something that looked like just the way in that they needed.

"You guys, I found something!" Cody called to the group. "It looks like a hanger of some sort. It's on the lower part of the castle."

Each of the group took a turn looking through the binoculars to see what Cody was talking about. At the top of the inverted cone-shaped base of the fortress was a large rectangular opening.

"I think that's just the way in we needed." Izzy said after looking through the binoculars. "And I think I have just the way to get up there. Tentomon?"

"Leave it to me Izzy." The little beetle Digimon said before glowing with a purple light. "Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!"

In a flash of light, Tentomon had transformed into the large blue and grey insect creature that was his Champion form, the transformation was not finished there.

"Kabuterimon digivolve to… MegaKabuterimon!" Kabuterimon cried as he transformed into the giant red beetle that was his Ultimate form. With his transformation complete, MegaKabuterimon crouched low to the ground. "Hop on guys."

The rest of the group climbed onto the giant beetle's back. With everyone aboard, MegaKabuterimon's rear ignited and the beetle took off like a rocket and started flying towards the castle.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile on the bridge of the castle, DarkSuperStarmon was sitting in his command chair monitoring the operations of the fortress. Several small dark-grey and gold gear-shaped robots with red eyes, jagged mouths, and two smaller silver gears for hands were operating the consuls on the bridge. These were Hagurumon, and one of them detected MegaKabuterimon's approach on his consul.<p>

"Sir, I'm picking up an object approaching the fortress." The Hagurumon told DarkSuperStarmon. The mechanical Digimon brought up the image of MegaKabuterimon and his passengers on the main screen. "Shall we open fire sir?"

"Not just yet." DarkSuperStarmon replied. "We should inform Lord Justimon first."

At that very moment, Justimon was sitting on his throne waiting. Barbamon was standing next to him. Suddenly a holographic screen showing DarkSuperStarmon flared on in the middle of the room.

"My lord, the Digidestined are approaching the fortress." The star-shaped general informed Justimon. "I believe they are trying to enter the castle."

"Let them come." Justimon ordered. "Leave the hanger door open, but don't make it easy for them to get in. Open fire on them but do not target them. I don't want them dead just yet. In the meantime station more Guardromon in the corridors. Especially in those leading to the brig and my chamber."

"At once my lord!" DarkSuperStarmon replied, and with that the holographic screen faded away.

"You really are making it hard for them to come." Barbamon commented with a grin. "You realize that even if the gunmen aren't targeting them, there is still a good chance that your old friend and that girl will be blown out of the sky."

"Like I said, I want to push Ken to his limits, and Rika too." Justimon replied. "If they want to get to me that badly, then they're going to have to walk through fire."

Back on the bridge, DarkSuperStarmon pressed a button on the arm of his command chair. In an instant a Guardromon was standing before him.

"Triple the amount of troops in the corridors leading to the brig and Lord Justimon's throne room." DarkSuperStarmon ordered.

"By your command." The Guardromon replied in a cold mechanical voice before leaving the bridge to carry out his orders.

"Fire cannons in the projected flight path of the approaching enemy but do not target them!" DarkSuperStarmon ordered the Hagurumon. "Also, leave the hanger door open. Those are Lord Justimon's orders!"

"Yes sir!" the Hagurumon replied in unison.

* * *

><p>As MegaKabuterimon continued flying towards the hanger, a shell suddenly exploded in front of him. The giant beetle narrowly avoided getting caught in the blast. That explosion was far from the last however. Soon the sky around them was filled with explosions. MegaKabuterimon had to quickly correct his course several times to avoid getting hit, causing his passengers to cling on for dear life.<p>

"They don't seem to be doing a good job of hitting us!" Izzy shouted over the explosions.

"You're complaining about that?" Davis shouted back.

"Izzy's right!" Renamon observed. "They don't seem to be firing at us, but in our path to the hanger!"

Suddenly an explosion caught MegaKabuterimon near his left leg. The beetle Digimon roared in pain, causing Izzy to become very concerned. However, they were at last near the hanger, and with the last of his strength, MegaKabuterimon flew in. The beetle Digimon fell to his right side, causing his passengers to fall off. At that point, MegaKabuterimon reverted into a small pink blob-like creature with stubbly arms and two black marble-like eyes. This was Tentomon's In-training form, Motimon. Izzy went over and picked up his weakened partner. It was clear that Motimon would be of no help in the battle that was to come.

"Well we're in, now what?" Davis asked the group.

Still holding Motimon, Izzy looked around the large hanger and found what looked to be a computer consul nearby. He went over to the consul and after setting Motimon down for a moment, pulled out his laptop and plugged it in. Izzy then proceeded to hack into the fortress's main computer, and after a moment found what he was looking for.

"Okay, I've managed to find a general layout of the fortress." Izzy explained to the group. "This should help us in finding our way around."

"Can you find where they're keeping Yolei?" Ken asked.

"I believe so." Izzy replied. "They seem to be holding her in the brig. That's actually not too far away from our current location."

"What about Ryo?" Rika asked. "Can you find out where he is?"

"I believe he's in a large chamber in the center of the fortress." Izzy replied. "That place seems to be a little harder to get to I'm afraid."

"But it's where I need to be." Rika said with a determined expression. "Just tell me how to get there."

"Hold on, we shouldn't split up!" Ken told Rika. "We should save Yolei first then go after Ryo."

"I said I'm going!" Rika insisted. "Don't try and stop me!"

Ken looked in the determination in Rika's eyes. It was clear to him that there was no way he could talk her out of going after Ryo.

"…Okay, but you shouldn't go alone." Ken said after a moment. "Davis and I will focus on getting Yolei. Meanwhile you guys can go after Ryo."

"Fine by me." Rika agreed.

"I'm sending a full copy of the layout to Ken and Cody's D-Terminals." Izzy explained as he typed a few more things into his laptop. "We should be able to use them to get around."

"Okay then, let's go Davis!" Ken said to his friend.

"You got it man!" Davis said enthusiastically. The duo headed for the exit to the hanger, but Ken stopped and turned to Rika.

"Just remember, Ryo is my friend too." Ken told the female Tamer. "Whatever's happened to him, I hope you can get him back to his old self."

"Don't worry, I will." Rika proclaimed.

Ken nodded and continued heading out to save Yolei.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> It actually took me a bit to figure out how the group was going to get into the fortress. It was a flying fortress after all, and I didn't want to use Imperialdramon. One of the reasons for that is because I'm trying to use Imperialdramon as little as possible in these stories because he was so overused in the anime. Of course he'll be used in the climax of this story. Anyway, I just decided to have them fly up on MegaKabuterimon's back, it seemed like a simple enough solution. I've never really written an aerial battle scene like the one in the chapter, so I'm not sure if it's any good.

Review and let me know what you think.


	7. Escape and Fight

**Author's Note:** I meant to have this chapter done yesterday, but boy if I haven't been a little worn out lately. Plus today I woke up with a headache. Well, better late than never.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Escape and Fight<p>

Yolei was standing by the door of her cell holding Hawkmon's cage with both her hands. From where she was she hoped that it would appear that she was no longer in the room. It was only a matter of time before one of the Hagurumon would come to check on her. Patiently Yolei waited, and soon enough the Hagurumon arrived. The mechanical Digimon was surprised when it looked like there was no one in the cell. Naturally it used its card key to lower the force field and entered the cell. When the Hagurumon was far enough inside the room, Yolei hit Hagurumon with Hawkmon's cage and knocked the mechanical Digimon against the wall. With the Hagurumon out cold, Yolei hurried and grabbed its card key.

"Sorry Hawkmon." Yolei said as she unlocked the bird Digimon's cage. "Your cage was the only heavy object on hand. Are you okay?"

"I think so." Hawkmon said as he exited the cage with a slightly dazed expression. "Now what?"

"Now we get out of here." Yolei answered.

"But the place is probably swarming with Guardromon and who knows what else." Hawkmon replied. "And I think this place is a little too small for me to fight as Aquillamon."

"Not to worry." Yolei said with a confident smile. "I still have my D-Terminal on me. That arrogant psycho Ryo probably didn't think we could escape from our cell."

With that, Yolei pulled out her D-Terminal and fired up the device. Soon enough Hawkmon began to glow with a green light.

"Hawkmon armor digivolve to… Shurimon, the Samurai of Sincerity!" Hawkmon cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name and title.

Hawkmon had become a white clad ninja with giant leaves for shoulder pads and coiled green vines for arms and legs. Three-pointed shurikens formed his hands and legs, and a larger four-pointed shuriken was on his back. With his transformation finished, Shurimon and Yolei exited the cell as quickly as they could. Very quickly they ran into an army of Guardromon in the corridors. Shurimon threw the giant shuriken at them and took a good number of them out. It was soon clear though that they were in for a long fight, as more Guardromon kept coming.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in another part of the fortress, Davis and Ken were also busy fighting off the Guardromon. Veemon had already evolved into ExVeemon, while Wormmon had evolved into his own Champion form, the giant dark-green and black humanoid insect known as Stingmon. The corridors of the fortress were just big enough for the two Digimon, but it was a tight fit and they could not fly. Plus while they were making short work of the Guardromon they encountered, more and more of the machine Digimon kept coming.<p>

"Man, this is endless!" Davis complained. "How many of these rust buckets are there? They just keep coming!"

"I think it's time we take things up a notch!" Ken suggested.

"No argument here!" Davis agreed. "Ready guys?"

Ken, ExVeemon, and Stingmon all nodded. After that, ExVeemon began glowing with a blue light, while Stingmon started glowing with a green light.

"DNA digivolve to… Paildramon!" the two Digimon cried in unison as they merged together.

The two Digimon had merged into a version of ExVeemon that wore parts of Stingmon's exoskeleton as armor on his torso, arms, and upper legs. Though part of the V symbol on his chest was still visible. The horned snout that ExVeemon had had receded and he wore a sort of black and red helmet with a white mouth guard. On his back he had sprouted a pair of small blue wings above his original white ones, and a pair of cannons was attached to his upper legs.

"Eat lead!" Paildramon cried as he grabbed hold of his two cannons. "Desperado Blaster!"

The approaching Guardromon were blasted away by a barrage on energy bullets. After what seemed like five minutes, the corridor was finally clear.

"Eat lead? I thought the bullets that you fired were made of energy or something." Davis said to Paildramon.

"They are, I've just always wanted to say that." Paildramon replied.

"Which 'you' is that?" Davis asked, knowing that the dragon was originally two Digimon.

"C'mon guys, let's get going!" Ken interrupted. "Remember that we're here to save Yolei."

"Right, sorry." Davis replied, and with that the three continued on their quest.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Rika, Izzy, and Cody were proceeding on their way to Justimon's throne room. Renamon had been leaving a trail of fallen Guardromon in their wake. Unfortunately, Motimon was too weak to fight, and Armadillomon had not yet fully recovered from their last encounter with Justimon. Fortunately Renamon was able to hold her own against the mechanical hoard, partly due to help from Rika's Digi-Modify cards. Five more Guardromon suddenly appeared in front of the group as they continued walking.<p>

Renamon fired a blast of crystal shards at the chest of the first one, taking it out. Two others fired missiles from their rights arms. Renamon jumped out of the way before they hit. Then she delivered a fly kick covered in blue flames to one of them and then fired more crystal shards at the other. The two Guardromon shut down after being hit. Renamon then jumped forward to a position in between the remaining two Guardromon. The two robot Digimon turned to face her and fired their missiles. Renamon jumped out of the way, causing the missiles to hit the Guardromon instead. With five more of the machine Digimon eliminated, the group proceeded forward.

"That was… impressive." Izzy commented with a look of amazement on his face.

"This isn't the first time Renamon and I have fought Guardromon." Rika replied. "A friend of mine has a Guardromon for a partner, and Renamon has sparred with him a couple of times. He's actually kind of a flake."

"Your friend or the Guardromon?" Motimon asked.

"Both." Rika replied flatly.

"Even so, for Renamon to be able to fight off so many opponents without having to evolve is quite remarkable." Izzy commented.

"The Digital World where I come from is a much harsher place than the one you're familiar with." Renamon replied. "I fought many battles in order to survive in that world before I met Rika. Although since I met her I've become far stronger than I ever was."

"We're coming up on a large open section of the fortress." Cody interrupted as he looked at the map on his D-Terminal. "It's not the room we're heading for, but it is likely that we'll run into a lot more Guardromon in there. Be ready."

They entered the large corridor, but instead of finding more Guardromon, they encountered a Digimon that looked like an old wizard waiting for them on the other side. A fanged grin was on his face. Right away Rika and Renamon recognized the old Digimon, it was Barbamon.

"You're the one who kidnapped Ryo!" Rika accused.

"I see you remember me." Barbamon said sounding amused. "I'm actually a little surprised that you were able to follow me through the portal. Not that it really matters."

"What did you do to Ryo?" Rika demanded.

"That, my dear, is an excellent question." Barbamon replied with an evil grin. "You could say that I'm trying to bring out the best in him, that there is a power within him that I am trying to uncover. You have no idea what powers lie within your friend. In fact I bet before now you didn't even know that this universe is the one he was born in. It makes you wonder if you truly know your friend at all. What other things could he possibly be hiding from you I wonder?"

"Shut up!" Rika shouted.

"I can see I hit a nerve there" Barbamon cackled. "In any case I'm sure you will find out soon enough. For right now I'm curious to see what you're made of. To pass through the portal to your universe and survive The Dark Ocean and make it all the way here, you must have an impressive amount of power. I might be interested in acquiring that power for myself."

"Who are you?" Izzy demanded.

"I am Barbamon, the lord of greed." The Demon Lord replied.

"Then that means you must be on of the Seven Lords." Izzy said with a tone of realization and shock.

"Ah, I'm impressed that you were able to figure that out so quickly my boy." Barbamon replied. "You must be the child of knowledge. In any case it does not matter. Soon my plans will come to fruition, but for now I'm going to see what the young lady and her pet fox are capable of."

"If you want a fight, you got one!" Rika declared. "Let's do this Renamon!"

Renamon nodded and Rika's Digivice let out a mechanized cry.

"BIOMERGE!"

With that, Rika turned into a ball of blue light and entered Renamon, triggering the transformation.

"Renamon, biomerge digivolve to… Sakuyamon!" Renamon cried as she transformed. Once the metamorphosis finished, Sakuyamon stood ready for battle, her golden staff already in her hand.

"Ah, a priestess." Barbamon commented with a wry expression. "This should indeed be an interesting diversion. Show me what you're made of!"

With that, Sakuyamon released the four fox spirits from the tubes hung from her belt. The four spirits formed a helix and tied to hit Barbamon, but the old wizard knocked them aside with his staff. With their attack failed they went back to their tubes.

"That was a bit disappointing." Barbamon commented. "Can't you do a better attack than that?"

"You asked for it!" Sakuyamon cried. "Twin Blades of Beauty and Truth!"

Two giant rings of pink energy formed around Sakuyamon and began spinning. After they picked up enough speed, Sakuyamon launched them at Barbamon. The demon wizard was hit, but recovered after a moment.

"THAT was much more impressive!" Babamon said with an evil grin. "But let's see how you handle this. Pandemonium Lost!"

The red orb at the top of Barbamon's staff flashed and the whole chamber was enveloped in an explosion of black flames. When the smoke and fire finally cleared, Barbamon saw that Sakuyamon had erected a spherical barrier made of blue energy around herself, Izzy, Cody, Motimon, and Armadillomon. The barrier fell and Sakuyamon breathed heavily for a moment.

"Good, good!" Barbamon cackled. "I've used that attack to wipe out entire armies in the war against the gods. Your powers really are impressive priestess."

Sakuyamon caught her breath and gritted her teeth in frustration. She could see that the battle with Barbamon was not going to be an easy one.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Yolei and Shurimon were continuing their escape. They had already made their way past several Guardromon, and Shurimon was becoming tired. The other problem was that Yolei had no idea where they were going. After they left the cell they turned left and went straight. At last the duo stopped to catch their breath.<p>

"What now Yolei?" Shurimon asked.

"I'm not sure." Yolei replied. "This place is like a maze, and it seems like there are Guardromon around every corner."

Suddenly Shurimon was hit by something that caused a small explosion, causing the white ninja to revert back to Hawkmon. Immediately Yolei went over to tend to the wounded Digimon. The smoke finally cleared, revealing DarkSuperStarmon as the one who fired on them.

"Well, well. It seems that someone has escaped from their cell." DarkSuperStarmon said as he approached. "You're going to have to be punished, and that's the type of thing that I enjoy doing personally."

Yolei felt terror rising within her as the evil Digimon approached. She was sure that her life was about to come to an end. Suddenly, the wall on the left side of the corridor exploded. When the smoke cleared, Yolei was greatly surprised to see Paildramon standing in the large hole that had been blown into the wall. Before DarkSuperStarmon could react, Paildramon extended a long stinger from his right forearm and impaled the evil Digimon through the center of his body. Paildramon retracted the stinger and the limp body of DarkSuperStarmon fell to the ground and began dissolving into particles of data. After a moment, Ken stepped out from behind Paildramon, and in an instant Yolei ran up to him and hugged him.

"Are you alright?" Ken asked.

"I'm am now." Yolei said a bit tearfully. "I thought I was going to die there for a minute."

"See, I told you it was a good idea to take that shortcut." Davis said as he stepped up next to the couple.

"What a touching reunion." A voice suddenly said. "It's a shame that I'm going to have to kill you now."

The group turned to see Justimon standing near by.

"Okay Ryo, you got me here. Now what is this all about?" Ken demanded.

"It's about revenge." Justimon answered coldly. "Revenge for your lies and betrayal."

"What are you talking about?" Ken demanded.

"Ken, he thinks that you were in on that whole D-1 Tournament thing." Yolei answered.

"I don't just think, I know." Justimon corrected. "You were in on the conspiracy from the very beginning!"

"Ryo, that's crazy! I knew nothing about the real reason for the tournament!" Ken insisted.

"LIAR!" Justimon shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at Ken. "You were in on it, and nothing you can say will convince me otherwise! The time for words is over, the only thing left to us now is to fight!"

With that, Justimon snapped his fingers and they were momentarily bathed in a flash of white light. When the light cleared, they all found themselves standing in a large crystalline room. This was Justimon's throne room.

"Impressive, don't you think?" Justimon asked. "Barbamon certainly has provided me with a sophisticated castle. I actually find it a bit nostalgic for some reason. Anyway, I though that this room would make the perfect arena for us, and once I kill your pet Digimon, you shall be next!"

"Well Ken, it looks like we're going to have to knock some sense into this guy." Davis said with a determined look.

Ken nodded in agreement. He could see that Ryo was beyond talking to at the moment. The only chance they had was to fight him. Ken remembered that when Sakuyamon was defeated in their last battle with Justimon, she split back into Rika and Renamon. It was Ken's hope that if they did enough damage to Justimon, he would split back into Ryo and whatever Digimon was his partner. Ken hoped that after that Ryo would return to sanity.

"Paildramon, give it all you've got!" Ken commanded.

"Paildramon, mega digivolve to… Imperialdramon!" Paildramon cried as he transformed in a flash of white light into a giant four-legged dragon with massive red wings, a mane of white hair, and black gauntlets with gold claws. But the transformation didn't end there. "Imperialdramon mode change to… Fighter Mode!"

Imperialdramon morphed into a humanoid shape. His original dragonhead became a face on his chest armor and was replaced by a more humanoid head wearing a green helmet. His front gauntlets changed to reveal a pair of hands, and the massive cannon on his back was moved to the wrist of his right gauntlet.

"Wow, I'm actually a little impressed." Justimon commented. "But you know the old saying, size doesn't matter. I'm going to pound your dragon into the ground."

"We'll see about that!" Imperialdramon said as he took a fighting stance. "For the sake of Ken and that girl Rika, I'm going to knock you back to your senses!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I was originally planning to have a short fight between Shurimon and DarkSuperStarmon, but I decided that it would've been a little unnecessary. Plus I wanted to get this chapter done so I can move to the climax.

Review and let me know what you think.


	8. The Return of Millenniummon

**Author's Note:** This chapter ended up being real short, so I thought I'd go ahead and add it. I think that the title should say a lot.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: The Return of Millenniummon<p>

The battle between Sakuyamon and Barbamon raged on in the wide-open area of Justimon's crystal fortress. Every now and then Barbamon would fire a blast of hellfire from his staff that Sakuyamon could only dodge or block with an energy barrier. Meanwhile Sakuyamon would fire a barrage of crystal cherry blossoms that Barbamon would simply knock away with his staff. Cody and Izzy were watching the battle from the sidelines with their Digimon. It seemed that the only thing they could do was watch, and from their perspective Sakuyamon was clearly outmatched. It also seemed like Barbamon was toying with the priestess Digimon. After all, Barbamon had displayed an incredible amount of power at the start of the battle. Suddenly the battle was interrupted when the floor shook for a moment, Barbamon's fanged grin widened.

"Well my dear, it seems that our battle will have to end here." Barbamon said to Sakuyamon. "My guess is that the tremor we just felt was caused by your dear friend fighting the fabled Imperialdramon. That means that my plan is close to completion. You were indeed a fun diversion Priestess, but now I must prepare. The throne room is just ahead. You are welcome to go there and take witness."

With that, Barbamon vanished in a burst of flames. Sakuyamon turned to Izzy and Cody.

"C'mon you guys, let's go save Ryo!" Sakuyamon commanded before running down the corridor. Her four companions soon followed after a moment.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in the throne room, Justimon had just kicked Imperialdramon against the wall, which caused the tremor felt by Sakuyamon and her group. Imperialdramon quickly got back up however, and fired a beam of energy from his cannon. Justimon narrowly jumped out of the way of the blast and leapt back into the air to deliver another kick. The giant humanoid dragon not only blocked the kick with his left arm but also knocked Justimon into the wall at the same time. It was a few moments before the dark hero got back to his feet.<p>

"I can do this all day." Imperialdramon said smugly to Justimon. "Why not just give up?"

"Never." Justimon said coldly as he caught his breath. "I won't give up until I have my revenge!"

"Ryo, I don't want to fight you." Ken said to Justimon. "You're one of the first real friends that I've had. I was very sad when you disappeared. And not long after you vanished my brother died in an accident and my world descended into darkness. Now you've come back after all these years and I find that you've fallen into darkness yourself. Well now I'm going to do whatever it takes to bring you out of that darkness!"

"You say that I was one of your first real friends?" Justimon asked with a sarcastic laugh. "Oh please, I was nothing more to you than a tool, a way to defeat a Digimon that everyone else was afraid to fight!"

"That's not true!" Ken insisted. "I owe you my life Ryo! You were there to help me when I first arrived in the Digital World. I don't think I would've made it out of there if it wasn't for you and Wormmon!"

"And yet you sold me out!" Justimon said with a more pronounced hint of anger in his voice. "It was your computer that had that rigged quiz on it! You were part of the whole charade! You have no idea the things I suffered through in that so-called tournament and beyond! You say that you owe me your life, that I was one of your first real friends. Well that's some way to show it! You're a weak and useless human being and I'm going to make sure you die!"

Yolei and Davis were both shocked by how much anger Ryo held towards Ken. Ken was shocked too, as well as saddened. He did not like seeing what his old friend had become, and wondered Ryo had gone through to cause him to hold so much rage.

"I don't know what's happened to you Ryo, but I'm still going to do everything I can to bring you back to the way you were!" Ken declared. "Imperialdramon, give him all you've got!"

"If you say so Ken." Imperialdramon said as he took aim at Justimon with his cannon. "Positron Laser!"

Once again Justimon jumped out of the way seconds before the beam hit, but as he was in the air the dark hero was hit in the side by a barrage of crystalline cherry blossoms and fell to the ground. It was another few moments before Justimon got back to his feet and saw that it was Sakuyamon that hit him. Izzy and Cody were right behind her and soon joined up with Ken, Davis, and Yolei.

"So you're fighting me too, eh Rika?" Justimon asked. "You're really going to fight along side these traitors?"

"You're feeling betrayed? How do you think I feel?" Sakuyamon asked in Rika's voice, which had a hint of anger to it. "Just when I think I've gotten to know you I find out you have a whole past that you didn't tell me about! Now I'm not sure if you are who I thought you were! Is this the real you, some kind of rage filled monster?"

"You have no idea what I've suffered through!" Justimon said angrily. "I was used by those who I thought were my friends and allies and then went through a living hell!"

"So now you're going to kill them for it?" Sakuyamon asked.

"If you truly cared about me, than you would understand my need for revenge and not stand in my way!" Justimon replied.

"Well I don't understand Ryo." Sakuyamon said with sadness in her voice. "The Ryo I know wouldn't do any of the things that you've done. If you're going to try and murder these people, then I have no choice but to stop you."

"You're… going to stand in my way?" Justimon asked in a cold rage. "You… TRAITOR! You choose to side with the ones who sold me out instead of me? You have no idea how much I care…"

Before Justimon could finish his sentence he cried out in pain and fell to his knees holding the sides of his head. The air was filled with the sound of chanting in a language that seemed to be painful for all those in the room to hear. Suddenly Justimon began glowing with a red light.

"Dark Branch Evolution!" Justimon cried out as he exploded into a column of red light that shot into the air and shattered the ceiling above to reveal the sky. "ZeedMillenniummon!"

The column of light finally faded and revealed a Digimon that was completely different from Justimon. This Digimon was gigantic and seemed to be two serpentine dragons coiled around each other like a helix and made of a fiery energy of some sort. One of the dragons was grey and had two horns on its head and pointed straight back. This dragon had a single arm with three claws. The second dragon was brown and also had two horns that pointed back, but also a third horn on its nose. This dragon also had an arm with five claws and looked more like a hand. Six green bands of what looked like digital code and formed a sort of cage surrounded the whole creature. Shortly after the emergence of this creature, the air was filled by a cackle in the same voice as the chant. The source of the cackling was revealed to be Barbamon, who had emerged from behind the throne.

"At last!" Barbamon cried. "I have brought forth the ancient god of chaos whose power can warp the very fabric of space and time! Behold, the almighty ZeedMillenniummon!"

The entire group was completely shocked by what had just happened. What was worse was that they recognized the name of this new Digimon, or at least part of it. It was the name of the evil Digimon that Ryo had fought at least three times in the past before disappearing and showing up in Rika's world. Suddenly the air was filled by the insane laughter of two voices, both cold reptilian. The group looked up and saw that it was coming from ZeedMillenniummon.

"Finally, after all this time the consciousness of that meddling Cyberdramon is contained!" ZeedMillenniummon cried. "What's even better is that Ryo is also buried deep within me! Now no one can stand in my way of becoming absolute ruler of all creation!"

Back down on the ground, Ken and the others were wonder if there was still any hope of saving Ryo. Because it seemed to them that Ryo was forever lost.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I've consulted the Digimon Wiki a lot when planning and writing these stories. One of the reasons is to refresh my memory on a few things. I mean it has been quite a few years since I've seen the anime. The other reason is to find out other stuff about the franchise that I could possibly use, like Digimon that could be used for minions or whatnot? Why make stuff up when there's a bunch of Digimon that have never been used in the anime or manga? In the case of this story though I thought I'd make up at least one thing, and that's the idea of Dark Branch Evolution.

The concept of Dark Branch Evolution is basically the same as the Slide Evolution concept used in Frontier, where you have a Digimon evolve into an evil version of itself. Like a Seraphimon becoming a Daemon. With Dark branch Evolution a Digimon becomes an evil Digimon that its pre-evolved form could've become. For example it'd be like a MetalGreymon becoming a SkullGreymon. SkullGreymon isn't necessarily an evil version of MetalGreymon, but it is an evil Digimon that Greymon can become. This way Justimon can become ZeedMillemmiummon without reverting to Cyberdramon first. It does kind of break the thing about Biomerged Digimon being humanoid, but it's a corrupted evolution anyway. Will I use this method in future stories? That I don't know.

So is Ryo forever lost, or can Ken and Rika still save him? Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out, and in the meantime please review and let me know what you think.


	9. Arrow of Love

**Author's Note:** These last couple of chapters have been a quick write. I may have this story done pretty soon.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

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><p>Chapter 8: Arrow of Love<p>

In the throne room of the floating crystal fortress, Ken and the others had just beheld a horrible site. Through some dark spell of Barbamon's, Justimon had transformed into ZeedMillenniummon, an evolved form of Ryo's old nemesis. The group was obviously confused as to how this was possible. Within Sakuyamon, Rika was not only confused, but also terrified. Not only did the very sight of the evil god Digimon terrify her, but also it seemed that when ZeedMillenniummon had emerged, Ryo's personality had completely vanished. And Rika was afraid that it meant that Ryo was lost for good.

"How is this possible?" Izzy asked ZeedMillenniummon. "How can it be that Ryo's Digimon form has transformed into you?"

"You simple minded insect!" ZeedMillenniummon laughed. "Didn't you ever find it odd that Ryo never had a Digimon partner of his own when you knew him? There was a reason for that, I was always his partner."

"Impossible!" Ken denied. "How could an evil Digimon like you have a human partner?"

"That is indeed an interesting question." ZeedMillenniummon replied. "I did not think it possible either, but after contemplating it for quite some time it seemed to be the only logical conclusion. After all, how could it be possible that a mere boy like Ryo could defeat me, even with a band of borrowed Digimon? The only explanation was that Ryo had a power that rivaled my own. He was the light that complimented my darkness, the order that complimented my chaos. Perhaps the reason I was created was because a part of Ryo desired the power that I could provide, a being created by his dreams or nightmares. But whatever the reason it was clear that he and I complimented each other."

"If you're really Ryo's partner than what about Cyberdramon?" Sakuyamon demanded.

"Ah, that my dear is a good question." ZeedMillenniummon replied in an amused tone. "To answer that I will have to tell you about what happened after the amusing little farce of the Harmonious Ones that was the D-1 Tournament. When Ryo defeated me at my palace, I decided to take our battle to the next level. I had attempted to hurl Ryo to the distant future where we would continue our endless battle. Unfortunately miscalculated and instead hurled Ryo back to the Digital World's distant past.

"It was there that Ryo met one of the creator gods of the Digital World, a being so powerful that it created all the Digital Worlds throughout space and time. This being decided to give Ryo a Digimon partner in order to fight me, so it selected a Monodramon for that role. And so our war throughout the dimensions began. During our final battle I revealed to Ryo the truth that I had always been his real partner. But that meddling Monodramon disagreed with me and in my weakened state forced a DNA evolution between us that regressed us into a single egg. The egg hatched and my consciousness was completely suppressed by Monodramon's. When he finally evolved to Cyberdramon a part of me tried to seep out, but in the end Ryo was able to help suppress me and I became completely dormant the first time the two of them biomerged into Justimon."

"So how is it that you're back?" Ken demanded to know.

"That my boy was my doing." Barbamon answered. "After I captured Ryo and Cyberdramon I was able to force a dark biomerge between them. I was hoping that the result would be ZeedMillenniummon. But because of the strength of their minds I only ended up with a darker Justimon. Still, it seemed clear that ZeedMillenniummon had partially awakened, so I decided to push Justimon's anger until both Ryo and Cyberdramon would lose control and allow ZeedMillenniummon's power to escape, which it now finally has."

"I do not know why you have helped me to awaken Barbamon, but I thank you." ZeedMillenniummon said to the evil wizard. "I will repay you once I become ruler of all things."

"We'll see about that!" Imperialdramon said as he took aim at the evil god with his cannon. "Positron Laser!"

The beam from the positron laser hit ZeedMillenniummon dead on, but the evil god Digimon was unfazed.

"Do not trifle with me insect!" ZeedMillenniummon warned. "Chrono Paradox!"

With that ZeedMillenniummon fired streams of blue fire from his mouths that spiraled around each other to form a double helix. Imperialdramon was hit in the chest and fell to the ground, but the dragon warrior was only stunned and slowly got back up after a few moments.

"Consider that a warning." ZeedMillenniummon threatened. "Go against me again and I shall banish all of you to the void beyond space and time! There you would drift through all eternity with no hope of return!"

Meanwhile within Sakuyamon, Rika was at a complete lose about what to do. It did not seem possible that Ryo could ever be brought back. Consumed by feelings of helplessness, Rika began to cry.

_"Are you giving up Rika?"_ Sakuyamon's voice suddenly asked.

_"I just don't know what to do."_ Rika answered tearfully. _"Before I thought there was a chance we could save Ryo when he was Justimon. But now that he's become that monster I…"_

Rika trailed off and started sobbing.

_"Do not lose hope Rika."_ Sakuyamon told her. _"There is still a small chance that Ryo can still be saved."_

_"…How?"_ Rika asked after she regained some of her composure.

_"There is a technique that we have never used, and it would require all of the power that we have."_ Sakuyamon answered. _"It could even prove dangerous to us. Are you willing to take the chance?"_

_"You know I am."_ Rika declared. _"I'll do anything to bring back Ryo, even if it kills me."_

Back on the outside, a column of blue light enveloped Sakuyamon. When the light faded Sakuyamon's attire had changed. She still wore her golden fox mask, but instead of her bodysuit and armor she was wearing the attire of a Miko, which consisted of red long divided trousers called hakama, and a white kimono jacket with baggy sleeves. Her two foxtail-like ponytails also had white ribbons tied around them.

"What is this?" ZeedMillenniummon asked sounding amused. "Are you going to try and fight me you pathetic insect?"

"I'm going to free Ryo from within you!" Sakuyamon declared in both her own voice and Rika's.

"You're wasting your time." ZeedMillenniummon laughed. "Ryo's mind has been locked away within me. No power that you posses can free him."

"Do not under estimate me!" Sakuyamon said as a bow appeared in her right hand and an arrow appeared in her left. "I will release Ryo by purifying you of your evil!"

With that, Sakuyamon strung the arrow and took aim at ZeedMillenniummon. Then she quietly began to chant some sort of spell that caused her to glow with an aura of blue light. The energy of that aura then began to gather into the head of the arrow. Within Sakuyamon Rika was channeling all of her energy, her very life force into the arrow. All she focused on was her desire to save Ryo.

"You are beginning to annoy me." ZeedMillenniummon said with a hint of irritation. "I will banish you to the void beyond space and time and put an end to your pointless display!"

Before ZeedMillenniummon could do anything, Imperialdramon fired on him again, distracting the evil god.

"I warned you about trifling with me!" an angered ZeedMillenniummon shouted. "You shall be the first to be banished!"

At last the aura around Sakuyamon faded and all of the energy went into the arrow. With the last of her strength Sakuyamon fired the arrow. The arrow took of like a glowing rocket and hit ZeedMillenniummon in the spot where his two necks met. The evil god Digimon suddenly roared in pain before exploding in a blinding flash of white light that forced everyone in the room to cover their eyes. When the light finally faded, Ken looked up to see a pair of figures that momentarily floated in the air where ZeedMillennimmon originally was before suddenly falling. Imperialdramon caught the two and gently set them down on the ground. Ken and Davis rushed over to check on them.

Meanwhile, Rika was lying on the ground unconscious. Next to her was a small round yellow creature with large eyes, four stubby legs, pointed ears, and a bushy tail with a white tip. This was Renamon's In-Training form, Viximon. Yolei, Izzy, and Cody rushed over to check on Rika. Meanwhile, Ken and Davis were checking on the two unconscious figures. One of them was a young man with brown hair wearing a grey shirt, dark-blue jacket, and black jeans. Ken recognized the young ma as Ryo. The other figure was a Digimon. It was a humanoid dragon that was as large as an average human and covered head to toe in black rubbery armor. Two pairs of red wings were on its back. Both Ken and Davis assumed that the Digimon was Ryo's partner Cyberdramon. It wasn't long before Ryo regained consciousness.

"…Ken?" Ryo asked weakly as he looked up at his old friend.

"Are you alright?" Ken asked Ryo.

"Well, I have one hell of a headache but other than that I think I'm okay." Ryo replied as he slowly sat up. "I also remember a lot of the stuff I did to you and your friends. I feel terrible about it, and about what I did to Rika."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Ken said with a reassuring smile. "You clearly weren't yourself."

Suddenly Cyberdramon got to his feet, rubbing the side of his head with his right hand.

"Hey buddy, you okay?" Davis asked the dragon Digimon, who merely growled in response. "Jeez, sorry I asked."

"Don't worry, he's always like that." Ryo assured Davis. "Of course you haven't really caught him in a good mood."

"Oh god, she's not breathing!" Yolei cried, getting the attention of Ryo, Ken, and Davis.

The three young men rushed over as Yolei gave Rika CPR. Ryo knelt down next to Rika and grabbed onto her hand.

"Please don't die on me Rika!" Ryo cried as tears began to well up in his eyes. "I've never told you this before but… I love you! I have for years but I've never had the guts to tell you! But I'm telling you now, so please don't die!"

Suddenly Rika coughed and slowly opened her eyes.

"You dummy." Rika said with a weak smile as she looked up at Ryo, causing Ryo to smile back.

"Damn you priestess!" Barbamon shouted, interrupting the tender moment. "I was so close to having it all! My plan was to take ZeedMillenniummon's powers for myself, overthrow my so-called master, and become the absolute ruler of space and time! Now it's all come to nothing!"

Cyberdramon stepped forward and roared at Barbamon, frightening Davis ad a few of the others.

"Hey Ryo, can't you calm him down?" Davis asked.

"Cyberdramon's mad at Barbamon for using him." Ryo said as he got up and walked up next to Cyberdramon, all the while glaring at Barbamon. "And so am I! You made me hurt one of my oldest friends and the girl I love!"

"If it makes you feel better it was nothing personal my boy." Barbamon said with an evil grin. "You were merely a means to an end. What happened to your friends is simply collateral damage."

"That makes it even worse!" Ryo shouted. "Cyberdramon and I are going to make you pay for what you've done!"

Cyberdramon roared again and Ryo's digivice let out the mechanized cry of a familiar word.

"BIOMERGE!"

With that, Ryo turned into a ball of blue light and entered Cyberdramon and triggering the transformation.

"Cyberdramon biomerge digivolve to… Justimon!" Cyberdramon cried as he transformed.

Once again Ryo and Cyberdramon had become Justimon, but there was a difference in the Digimon hero's appearance. His costume was blue and white instead of black and grey, and his long red scarf was no longer tattered.

"Ryo, are you sure you have to do this?" Ken asked with a tone of concern.

"You can't talk me out of this Ken." Justimon replied. "Barbamon has to pay for what he's done!"

"Well, you heard him Ken. We should probably help him out." Davis cut in. "Back him up Imperialdramon!"

"You got it!" Imperialdramon said as he took aim at the demon wizard.

"So you're going to fight me, eh?" Barbamon said in a wry tone. "I knew that there was a chance that I may have to face the legendary Imperialdramon, so I took a little precaution."

Barbamon began chanting a spell in a foul language that was almost painful for the group to listen to. Suddenly a large portal opened up behind Barbamon and a massive creature stepped though. It was a dragon that looked almost exactly like Imperialdramon's original dragon form, except it was mostly black. Barbamon stopped chanting when the dragon fully emerged behind him, causing the portal to close.

"Meet my pet, BlackImperialdramon!" Barbamon announced, causing the evil dragon to roar. "This creature has been a useful and faithful servant to me for years! And by the time he's through with you, you shall all parish!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> One of the big problems I had when planing this story was figuring out how to change ZeedMillenniummon back into Ryo and Cyberdramon. I didn't think that Imperialdramon beating him up would be a good solution, especially since ZeedMillenniummon could easily beat Imperialdramon. Plus I thought that it would have to be something that Rika would have to do, otherwise why bring her into the story? So I thought about it for awhile, and then when I was browsing through the Digimon Wiki I saw that Sakuyamon had a Miko form that was never used in the anime. And so I thought that I could use that in the story somehow. So as a result of seeing almost every episode of InuYasha (I have yet to see The Final Act), I decided to just have Sakuyamon pull a Kagome/Kikyo and purify ZeedMillenniummon with a sacred arrow. It also provided a way for Rika to sacrifice her life to save Ryo, and I'm sorry if that scene between Ryo and Rika was a little melodramatic.

The next chapter is the climactic final battle with Barbamon, so stay tuned. In the meantime please review and let me know what you think.


	10. The Lord of Greed

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

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><p>Chapter 9: The Lord of Greed<p>

Just when ZeedMillenniummon was eliminated and Ryo was brought back to his true self, the group faced a new threat from Barbamon, whom Rika, Izzy, and Cody had found out earlier was one of the Seven Lords. What was worse was that Barbamon had summoned what he called his pet, BlackImperialdramon. Rika and Renamon, who had become Viximon after losing so much energy, were in no condition to fight, and neither were Motimon, Armadillomon, or Hawkmon. This left Justimon to fight Barbamon one on one while Imperialdramon fought his evil counterpart. The only thing the other could do was watch.

"Kill them BlackImperialdramon!" Barbamon commanded.

BlackImperialdramon roared and flew at Imperialdramon. The dragon warrior caught his doppelganger and threw him against the far wall. BlackImperialdramon got back up and fired a sphere of black energy from his mouth, but imperialdramon deflected it with a beam from his positron laser.

"Be careful Imperialdramon!" Davis called to the dragon warrior.

"Relax, I'm a whole level above this guy." Imperialdramon said confidently. "There's no way I can lose!"

Suddenly BlackImperialdramon began to morph into a humanoid shape that looked exactly like Imperialdramon's current form, only blacker.

"Oh you son of a…" Imperialdramon began to curse, though before he could finish he was hit in the chest by BlackImperialdramon's positron laser and was knocked to the ground.

Meanwhile, Barbamon's fight with Justimon was just beginning. Justimon opened with a sphere of blue electrical energy fired from the fist of his mechanical arm that hit Barbamon in the chest. Barbamon recovered quickly though and fired a stream of hellfire from the orb of his staff, which Justimon narrowly dodged. With lightning speed Justimon moved over to Barbamon's left and hit the old wizard with a roundhouse kick. Before Barbamon could recover Justimon hit him with a devastating charged punch with his mechanical fist and knocked him to the ground.

"So… it seems that I have earned your wrath." Barbamon said as he got back to his feet using his staff. "I told you that it was nothing personal, you were just a means to get what I desire."

"And you don't care who you hurt to get what you want?" Justimon asked coldly.

"I am the lord of greed." Barbamon chuckled. "If I want something I simply take it, and I'm willing to use any tricks to do so. What do I care if anyone else gets hurt?"

"You should care about the lives that you ruin and destroy!" Justimon told the evil wizard. "Nothing is worth the cost of hurting innocent people! I will make you pay for your evil deeds!"

With that, the battle continued. Meanwhile Imperialdramon was struggling against his evil counterpart. The two dragon warriors kept trading blows and destroying the cavernous throne room in the process. Despite having changed to his Fighter Mode, BlackImperialdramon had the ferocity of a wild animal. He was a beast driven only by rage and the instinct to fight and destroy. That beast mentality somehow seemed to give the dark dragon warrior an edge over Imperialdramon. With another blast from BlackImperialdramon's positron laser Imperialdramon was knocked to the ground.

"Get up Imperialdramon!" Davis told the fallen dragon warrior. "I know you can beat this monster!"

"Davis is right!" Ken told Imperialdramon. "That BlackImperialdramon may be powerful, but you have a power he can't tap into because he gave into his instincts and became an animal! All you have to do is tap into that power and you can win! Don't give up!"

Imperialdramon finally got back to his feet and with a cry suddenly flashed with a brilliant white light.

"Imperialdramon mode change to… Paladin Mode!" Imperialdramon cried as he transformed.

When the light finally faded Imperialdramon's armor and wings had become pure white. In his hands he carried a giant ornate sword with symbols in the language of the Digital World written down the side on the blade. At this point BlackImperialdramon charged at Imperialdramon to try and deliver a final blow.

"Omni Sword!" Imperialdramon cried as he hit the dark dragon warrior with a horizontal slash.

BlackImperialdramon was cut in two by the sword. The two halves of his body dissolved into particles of data before hitting the ground. Meanwhile, Justimon and Barbamon's battle raged on. Barbamon was using his staff to block most of Justimon's attacks. Justimon charged forward and Barbamon raised his staff to block what he thought was going to be another punch, but at the last second Justimon's mechanical forearm changed to its energy blade form. The blade not only cut Barbamon's staff in two but also cut his beard and slashed into his chest. As soon as his arm returned to his original form, Justimon stepped back to deliver the final blow.

"Justice Kick!" Justimon cried as he leapt up and delivered a powerful flying kick that not only hurled Barbamon into the wall but also left an impression.

After a moment, Barbamon slumped to the ground and dissolved into particles of data. With the battle finally over, Justimon began walking back to the rest of the group, splitting into Ryo and Cyberdramon as he did so. Rika walked forward from where she was standing next to Yolei and Izzy carrying Viximon in her arms, meeting Ryo half way.

"That wasn't an easy battle, but I got him just like I always do." Ryo said confidently.

"Why do you always have to be so cocky?" Rika asked with a small smile. "You moron."

"Guess you were right Daemon, the old man really was gonna stab us in the back." A voice suddenly said.

Everyone looked around and saw that the one who spoke was a humanoid Digimon with three red eyes, blond hair, and light-blue skin wearing a black mask, a black leather jacket with a white furred collar and a red bandana tied around his left arm, and a pair of spiked boots that held shotguns. A black cord-like tail hung down from behind him.

"Beelzemon?" Rika asked the Digimon with a shocked expression. "What're you doing here?"

"Am I supposed to know you?" Beelzemon asked with a quirked brow.

"Rika, that's not the Beelzemon from our world." Viximon said in her soft high voice.

After a brief moment the group noticed that there were two other Digimon with Beelzemon. One was a woman with raven-black hair, pale skin, and pointed ears. Her hair was tied up with gold ornaments and she wore a tight-fitting black bodysuit that revealed her shoulders and part of her cleavage. Attached to the suit was a long purple skirt that was open in front and long baggy purple sleeves. A large batwing-shaped bow was attacked to the back of her waist, and a black bat symbol adorned her forehead. Her right hand was a claw with decayed looking skin. Davis immediately recognized the Digimon as Lilithmon, and he went completely white when he saw her.

The third Digimon, who was standing in between Beelzemon and Lilithmon, was completely robbed in red and wore a red hood over his head that only revealed his blue demonic eyes. Although a large pair of black horns stuck out from the sides, and on his back was a large pair of bat-like wings. The members of the group who were Digidestined recognized this third Digimon right away and were shocked to see him.

"Daemon!" Ken exclaimed as he narrowed his eyes at the evil Digimon. "I thought we got rid of you!"

"Don't be so surprised to me again Ken." Daemon chuckled. "I told you all those years ago that I would return."

"Does this mean that you're one of the Seven Lords?" Izzy asked.

"That I am." The Demon Lord replied. "I am the lord of wrath, and one of the strongest of my brethren."

"So Barbamon was working with you this whole time?" Yolei asked.

"Not exactly." Lilithmon answered.

"Barbamon did indeed tell us that he was going to gain for us the lost powers of Millenniummon, something that I had attempted to do when I went after Ken's Dark Spore all those years ago." Daemon explained. "But as I suspected he was really planning to take that power all for himself. We came here to keep an eye on Barbamon and deal with him if necessary, but you have saved us the trouble."

"So now what, are you going to fight us?" Imperialdramon asked as he raised his sword.

"Not today." Daemon answered. "The three of us shall take our leave now. Consider it a thank you for taking care of Barbamon. But next time we shall face each other in battle, and you will be destroyed."

With that, Daemon and Beelzemon disappeared in a burst of flames. Lilithmon stayed behind for a moment and looked at Davis.

"I'll see you again soon Davis darling." Lilithmon said with an evil grin before vanishing in a burst of flames, causing Davis to shudder.

Shortly after the Demon Lords left, the whole room suddenly began to shake.

"I think the fortress is starting to collapse!" Izzy said with urgency. "We need to get out of here now!"

The others nodded and Imperialdramon regressed back into his dragon form. The group got on Imperialdramon's back as quickly as they could. With everyone aboard, the dragon Digimon took off through the massive hole in the ceiling. A few minutes later the group had landed far away from the fortress, which had since fallen to the ground and exploded. Imperialdramon had split into Veemon's Fresh form of Chibomon, a small round blue creature with black marble-like eyes, and Wormmon's Fresh form Leafmon, a small green creature with eyes like Chibomon's and a large leaf-shaped tail. With their quest finished, the group entered the nearest Digi-Port to return home.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> There certainly has been a lot of battling in this story. Of course I'm not new to writing fight scenes, what with all the monster battles in the one Yu-Gi-Oh! GX fanfic I wrote. Plus there were battles in the last two Digimon stories I've done. Anyway, one of the reasons I had that part where Daemon, Lilithmon, and Beelzemon showed up was to make it clear that the Beelzemon in these stories is not the same one from Tamers. Although I think that was pretty obvious.

This story isn't over yet. There's one more chapter coming up that will serve to resolve this story and set up the next one, so stay tuned. In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	11. Ryo's Journey

**Author's Note:** Without further delay, here is the final chapter of Dark Tamer.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

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><p>Chapter 10: Ryo's Journey<p>

After the long and arduous quest in the Digital World, the group of Digidestined and the two Tamers returned to Ken and Yolei's apartment. Their Digimon were all worn out, all except for Cyberdramon that is. The dragon man Digimon sat in a far corner of the room and kept to himself. The rest of the group all sat down on the various pieces of furniture in the living room, all except for Ryo. Ryo remained standing and saw that all eyes were on him.

"Well, I guess you all have a few questions about me." Ryo said to the group. "Questions like what exactly happened to me after the D-1 Tournament, and how I ended up in Rika's world. I think the best way to answer those questions is to just tell you the story of what happened. At the end of my battle with Moon=Millenniummon, he blew up his castle with the intention of sending the both of us to the far future, but something went wrong and I wound up in the past, and I mean the far past. I woke up in a barren wasteland with almost no memory of who I was or how I got there. The only thing I remembered was my name.

"I'm not sure how long I wandered around in that place, but after awhile I ran into Monodramon. Monodramon told me that he was sent to find me and take me back to the one who sent him. I followed Monodramon and soon met one of the gods of the Digital World, ENIAC."

"Hold on!" Izzy interrupted. "ENIAC, as in the second computer ever built?"

"That's right." Ryo answered. "ENIAC created the Digital World along side the first computer ever built, Antanasoff. But they didn't just create one Digital World; they created all the Digital Worlds that exist in every reality. I guess I should also mention that time in all the Digital Worlds hadn't yet synced up with time in all human worlds, and that ENIAC was around eons ago by a Digimon's perspective, even though both it and Atanasoff were built in the 1940s. Anyway, ENIAC told me that ZeedMillenniummon had started a war with him in the far distant future, and for reasons that it could not understand I was the only one who could stop him. So ENIAC assigned me Monodramon as a Digimon partner and charged me with the task of fighting Millenniummon and stopping him from taking over all realities.

"So Monodramon and I started traveling all over time and space with ENIAC's help. We went to the distant future, the present, and a bunch of alternate realities. I teamed up with versions of a lot of you in this little war, and over time I began to regain the memories of who I was. Eventually I ended up fighting Millenniummon in person again and I learned the truth about our connection. Then Monodramon merged with Millenniummon and became an egg. But I think you know that part of the story already.

"After Millenniummon was defeated once and for all, ENIAC gave me a choice. It could either send me back to the world where I originally came from, or send me to another world. Back then part of the reason why I chose to go to another world was because of the truth about the D-1 Tournament and how I was lied to by almost everybody. But the truth is that after all I went through and after learning the truth about my connection with Millenniummon, I didn't feel like I was a part of that world anymore. Maybe I never was, maybe I was just some cosmic glitch created to balance Millenniummon, who was also an anomaly. Either way I felt that I couldn't go back, so I decided to go to another world for a fresh start. And that's how I ended up in Rika's world."

"Why didn't you tell me where you really came from?" Rika suddenly asked. "Why didn't you tell any of us?"

Ryo looked at Rika and saw her looking at him with slightly hurt eyes. It was a moment before Ryo spoke again.

"To be honest… I didn't think you'd believe me." Ryo finally answered. "I mean what sane person would? It all sounds so ridiculous when you think about it. You'd think I was a total nut if I told you that I came from and alternate version of earth and fought a war through time and space. Especially since the world where I came from was only what you knew as a T.V. show. I have to admit I was a little freaked out when I saw that. Though I hoped that what happened in the T.V. show reflected what actually happened in this world, because it would've meant that things turned out well for Ken. And from the looks of things really are turning out how they did in the show."

"Wait, do you know what happens to us in the future?" Yolei suddenly asked.

"All I'll say is that you and Ken might want to think about getting a bigger apartment after you get married." Ryo answered with a knowing smile, causing Ken and Yolei to raise an eyebrow.

"So what do you plan to do now?" Ken asked.

"That's a good question." Ryo replied as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not sure how Rika and I are going to get back to her world, so I guess I'll stay here for awhile."

"If you like I can try and figure out how you and Ms. Nonaka can return to that dimension." Izzy suggested.

"I'd appreciate that." Ryo replied.

* * *

><p>A bit later, Ryo was out on the balcony alone looking up at the moon. His thoughts were disturbed when he heard the door open. Ryo turned to see Rika standing behind him.<p>

"What're thinking about?" Rika asked.

"A lot of stuff." Ryo answered. "My journey through time and space, ending up back here in this world after all these years, the nature of my existence… Where's Viximon?"

"She's inside with Cyberdramon." Rika answered. "The poor girl is a lot shyer than when she's Renamon. The other Digimon were bugging her and Cyberdramon saw that she wanted them to leave her alone and scared them off. I never thought he could be so protective of something so cute."

"Deep down inside Cyberdramon is a real softie." Ryo replied with a smile.

"…Did you really mean what you said to me on the fortress?" Rika suddenly asked. "That stuff about you being in love with me for years?"

"Oh, that." Ryo said with a blush. "Yeah, I meant all of it… There is one other reason why I ended up in your world that I didn't mention in there. You see I met you during my war with Millenniummon, or rather another version of you. Maybe it was a version of you from an altered timeline, or a version from a completely different world from yours. Either way I kinda developed a crush on you. So when ENIAC offered to send me to another world, I asked it to send me to a world where I could meet you."

Ryo's answer caused Rika to blush a bit. It flattered her somewhat that Ryo could've chose to go to any world and the reason he ended up in hers was simply just to meet her.

"Um, so why didn't you ever tell me how you felt?" Rika asked.

"Well, you were pretty unapproachable back then." Ryo answered. "Even now you can still be an ice queen sometimes, no offence. But… I guess the real reason is because I still felt out of place in your world. Of course I don't think there's any world out there where I'd fit in. Heck, I don't think I fit in the world we're in now and I just happened to be born here. The bottom line is I didn't think you could ever love a person like me."

"…I don't care about where you come from." Rika said after a moment, surprising Ryo. "I mean sure I was shocked when I found out that you came from an alternate reality. It made me wonder if you really were who I thought you were. But the truth is in the end I don't care who or what you are or where you come from. All that matters to me is that I've fallen in love with you."

Ryo walked up to Rika, and after the two stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, they embraced and their lips met in a passionate kiss.

* * *

><p>Two days later Rika and Ryo were staying at Cody's apartment. Rika took the modest guestroom that Cody had while Ryo took the couch. That afternoon there was a knock on the door, which Renamon answered. The ones at the door were Ken, Yolei, Davis, and Izzy, along with their respective Digimon. They were a bit surprised to see Renamon answering the door instead of one of the apartment's human occupants.<p>

"Hey Renamon." Davis greeted. "Is Cody in?"

"He stepped out for a moment." The fox Digimon answered.

"Are Rika and Ryo in?" Yolei asked.

"C'mon in guys." Rika's voice called from inside.

Renamon stepped aside to allow the group entry. When they entered they saw Ryo and Rika sitting on the couch watching T.V. Cyberdramon meanwhile was sitting in a nearby corner eating what looked like chunks of meat. Ryo turned off the television as the four sat down on the couch across from them.

"So what's up?" Ryo asked.

"I believe I may have found a way for you to return to your own dimension." Izzy answered. "I've been thinking about how Ms. Nonaka was able to come here through The Dark Ocean, and it occurred to me that perhaps that realm might be a connection to both our worlds. So theoretically we should be able to find the portal to your world through there. So if you wish, Ken can open up a portal to The Dark Ocean and we can start looking for it."

"Thanks guys, but Rika and I have been talking and we've decided to stay here for awhile." Ryo said to the group.

"How come?" Ken asked.

"Well, Cody told us about some of the stuff that's been going on here." Rika answered. "About how Kari disappeared and how T.K. ran off, and now you've got this thing with the Seven Lords. So we want to stay and help."

"You don't have to do that." Ken told them. "This is our problem. You guys don't have to get involved."

"But we already are involved." Ryo disagreed. "Barbamon came to our world and captured me. Who's to say that the rest of the Seven Lords won't come to our world too? We won't feel safe going back until we help you take them down once and for all."

"Well then, we're glad to have you help us." Ken told them with a smile, and with that the group began talking about what to do about the threat of the Seven Lords.

* * *

><p>At their cave lair in the Digital World, Daemon, Lilithmon, and Beelzemon were in a chamber kneeling before a white glowing orb on a pedestal. Daemon was speaking to the orb and had just finished telling it about Barbamon's betrayal.<p>

"So Barbamon was planning to use the powers of Millenniummon against me." Said a child-like voice from the orb in an amused tone. "I can't say that I'm surprised. I did admire his ambition, but the old fool could never learn his place no matter how many times I had to educate him. Perhaps it now best that he is gone, but it also means that I am still trapped here in The Dark Ocean."

"Do not worry my lord." Daemon reassured the voice of his unseen master. "The powers of Millenniummon may be lost, but we shall find another way for you to escape. In the meantime I have another plan to destroy the Digidestined."

"Have you found out where the children of hope and light are yet?" The Master asked.

"Regretfully no my lord." Daemon replied. "Though we have sent agents to find them. For now I have a plan to destroy the founding leaders of the Digidestined, the children of courage and friendship."

"Hmm… I suppose those two could be a problem." The Master admitted. "Their Digimon can become a being similar to Alphamon. Very well Daemon, proceed with your plan. But be warned that I will not tolerate another failure."

With that, the light of the orb faded and the three Demon Lords got to their feet. Beelzemon left the chamber to work on his bike, leaving Daemon and Lilithmon alone.

"So what do you have planned to destroy the children of courage and friendship?" Lilithmon asked sounding intrigued.

"It's very simple, I'm going to turn them into enemies." Daemon answered. "By the time I'm through with them, they're end up destroying each other."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Well, that's the end of Dark Tamer. I ended up finishing it a lot quicker than I expected. It was fun doing something that dealt with Ryo's backstory, and with Millenniummon, who is a pretty interesting villain in my opinion. As you've probably guessed, Rika and Ryo will be "guest staring" for the remainder of the Demon Crisis series. Afterwards I'll return them to their world, but the return to their world will be another story all together. Actually that story won't focus on them, but on Takato and a major crisis that occurs in the Tamer's world. Rika and Ryo will show up in the middle of that crisis, and they'll bring Ken and a few of the other Digidestined along for the ride.

Oh you never will believe what I have planed for that story. If you thought I put T.K. and Kari through a living hell in Digimon: Home by the Sea, wait until you see what I have in store for Takato and Jeri. It's at least a hundred times worse than anything you might expect, because I'm pretty confident that no one will expect the little twist I have in store. Though I think I may have said too much already. First things first though, I have to finish Demon Crisis, and there are still two storied left to go. The next story will focus on Tai, Matt, and Sora, and will feature Daemon as the primary villain.

So stay tuned for **Demon Crisis Book 3: Wrath**

In the meantime, please review this story and let me know what you think.


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